Glass 
Book 




Lx 3Q> 



THE 



LIFE OF NAPOLEON, 



WITH THE 



HISTORY OF FRANCE, 



FROM 



THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVL 



TO 






THE VEAR 1821. 



BY WILLIAM GRIMSHAW, 

Author of a History of the United States, &,c. 



PUBLISHED BY TOWAR & HOGAJ^, No. 255 MARKET STREET, 

AND SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE U. STATES. 
STEREOTYPE^ BY J. HOWE. 

1829. 



Eastern District of Pennsylvania^ to wit : 
»*#*** BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the third day of Jam®, art 
*L. S.* the fifty-third year of the independence of the United States of 
****** America, A. D. 1829, William Grimshaw, of the said district, 

bas deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims 

as author, in the words following, to wit ; 

" The Life of Napoleon, with the History of France, from the death of Louis 
XVI. to the year 1821. Ey William Grimshaw, Author of a History of the 
United Statefi," &c. 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, enii* 
tied, " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies 
of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of soch 
copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to the Act enti- 
tled, " An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled ' An Act for the En- 
couragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and 
Books, to the Authors and Proprie.*,or8 of such copies, during the times 
therein mentioned,' and extending th«j benefits thereof to the artB of de- 
sjf King, engraving, and etching, historical and other Prints." 

D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the 

Eastern District of Pennsyivanta. 



60 






Preceding the Life of Napoleon, there has 
been pubhshed, in a separate volume, written by 
the same author, A History of France, from 
the Foundation of the Monarchy, to the Death 
of Louis XVL 



THE 

LIFE OF NAPOLEON. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 

Napoleon Buonaparte, the fame of whose exploits seems 
doomed to reach the last inhabitants of the sublunary creation, 
was born on the fifteenth day of August, 1769, at Ajaccio, in 
the island of Corsica. His family were noble, though, during 
their residence in Corsica, rather reduced in fortune. The 
Buonapartes, however, were a family of some distinction, in 
the middle ages. Their names are inscribed in the archives 
of Treviso ; and their armorial bearings are to be seen, on 
several houses, in Florence. But, attached, during the civil 
war, to the party of the Ghibellines, they were, of course, per- 
secuted by the Guelphs ; and, being exiled from Tuscany, one 
of the family took refuge in Corsica ; where he enjoyed all the 
privileges of noble blood. 

Of these exiles, the father of Napoleon, Charles Buonaparte, 
was the principal descendant. He was educated at Pisa, for 
the profession of law ; and is stated to have possessed a very 
handsome person, a talent for eloquence, and a vivacity of in- 
tellect, which he transmitted to his son. He was a patriot also, 
and a soldier, and aided in the gallant resistance, made by Paoh, 
in the reign of Louis XV., to the French. 

It was in the midst of civil discord, that Charles Buonaparte 
married Letitia Ramolini ; one of the most beautiful and ac- 
complished young women of the island. Though deprived of 
her husband, in the prime of life, she had already become the 
mother of thirteen children ; of whom, five sons and three 
daughters survived him : — Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, 
and Jerome ; Maria Anne, afterwards grand-duchess of Tus- 
cany; Maria Paulina, who became princess Borghese; aj 
Caroline, wife of Murat, and queen of Naples. _^-^ •'^ • 

Charles Buonaparte, the father of Napoleop^-^^^^^joying' 
for some time, the profits of a judicial^ ^'^a^^o"* ""^®^ *^® 



10 THE LIFE OF 

French government, in Corsica, died, at Montpelier, at the age 
of about forty, of an ulcer in the stomach, in the year 1783, 

The count de Marboeuf, governor of Corsica, obtained, for 
young Napoleon, at the age of ten years, an appointment to 
the military school, at Brienne, one of the thirteen schools 
which were supported, at the royal expense, in order to train 
youths for the engineer and artillery service. Nothing could 
be more suitable to young Buonaparte's genius, than the line 
of study thus fortunately placed before him. His ardour for 
the mathematical sciences, was combined with a singular apti- 
tude for applying them to the purposes of war ; while his atten- 
tion was stimulated by a natural ambition of being recorded in 
the book of fame. 

Even at the early age of ten, he discovered a peculiar tem- 
per of mind. He avoided the juvenile amusements of the other 
pupils, and courted solitude and gloom : — withdrawing himself 
from their mirth, he devoted his attention to sedentary, rather 
than to active employment, and appeared entirely engaged in 
his own individual and retired pursuits. 

His thirst for aggrandizement was evinced while yet in his 
boyish days. A large plot of ground, adjoining the school, had 
been divided into a number of portions, and these the boys were 
allowed to cultivate, or appropriate to such other purposes as 
they pleased. One of these parcels was allotted to young 
Buonaparte, and two other lads ; but he succeeded in prevaihng 
upon his partners to relinquish their right to participate in the 
amusements which would have been afforded by their ground ; 
and proceeded to lay it out into a garden, which he took much 
pains to improve — his attention to it being the chief part of his 
recreation. He expended the money which the count Mar- 
bcEuf had sent to him, for his pocket, in constructing a strong 
palisade around his garden, by which he rendered it difficult 
of access. The shrubs, also, planted by him, some of which 
were formed into impenetrable arbours, contributed to seclude 
it from the grounds of the other boys, and to increase the diffi- 
culties of their intrusion. 

It does not appear, that, on his first entrance at school, any 
extraordinary acquirements of learning marked an inordinate 
desire of instruction, or intenseness of application ; and he 
seems to have neglected, if not altogether rejected, in his early 
vears, the attainment of the Latin language. He soon, how- 
®!^*^*^ .^nlied, with earnestness, to mathematics, the rudiments 
or which Hfc v,.<^o taught by M. Pichegru, afterwards so distin^ 
guished as a soldier, ^..a by Father Patrault, one of the infe- 



NAPOLEON. 1 1 

rior professors at Brienne. Fortification, and all the other 
branches of military science and tactics, he studied, with in- 
creasing ardour ; and these, with the reading of history, prin- 
cipally of ancient Rome and Greece, were his most delightful 
occupations. 

The hours of vacation, during which his attendance was not 
required before the preceptors, were spent in his garden ; which 
he cultivated so assiduously, as to preserve it in a state of clean- 
liness and order. Its boundaries became impervious, and in- 
closed a retreat that might have been coveted by a religious 
recluse. When his horticultural labours were ended, he re- 
tired to its arbours, with his mathematical and scientific works, 
and, surrounded by these and other books, chiefly on historical 
subjects, he meditated the reduction of the principles which he 
had imbibed, to practice. He planned the attack and defence 
of fortified places; the arrangements of hostile corps in order 
of battle ; calculated the chances of success on the one part, 
and of defeat on the other ; altered their position, and formed, 
on paper, and on the ground, charges and victories, which he 
afterwards realized, with so extraordinary success. 

The belles lettres were not, at this period, any source of his 
entertainment. His sole attention was given to military ac- 
quirements, and a proficiency in the studies which form the 
habits of a warrior. He scorned the arts of a courtier, nor did 
he employ them even when it might be supposed that no other 
would succeed. All other means, which power and the inge- 
nuity of an uncultivated mind would have devised, he used, 
without hesitation. His comrades called him the Spartan, and 
he retained the name until he quitted Brienne. 

His attachment to Corsica was almost proverbial, at the 
school. It was usual for the boys to receive the communion, 
and be confirmed, on the same day ; the ceremony being per- 
formed by the archbishop. When he came to Buonaparte, he 
asked him, as he had inquired of the rest, his christian name : 
—this. Napoleon gave aloufl. The name of Napoleon being 
uncommon, at first escaped the bishop's observation, and he 
desired him to repeat it; which lUionaparte did, with some 
appearance of impatience. Tho minister who assisted remark- 
ed to the prelate — " Napoleon ! — Nai)oleon ! — I do not know 
that saint." — " Indeed, I believe it," observed Buonaparte — 
♦*the saint is a Corsican ; and besides, there are a great many 
saints, and only three hundred and sixty-five days to divide 
amongst them." 

He had, in fact, been christened Napoleon, after an obscure 



12 THE LIFE OF 

saint, whose name had fallen altogether out of the calendar. 
The poHteness of the pope, however, at a future day, promoted 
the patron, in order to compliment the god-child ; and Saint 
Napoleon des Ursins was accommodated with a festival, at the 
expense of another saint, of still minor importance, whose name 
was erased ; and, to render the comphment more flattering, 
the feast of St. Napoleon was fixed for the 15th of August ; 
the birth-day of Buonaparte, and the day on which he signed 
the Concordat, which restored the French people to the bosom 
of the Roman church.. 

Buonaparte was always desirous of hearing accounts of the 
pubhc transactions in Corsica. He revered his country, and 
never mentioned its resistance to France, without enthusiasm. 
He listened, with most hvely interest, to the relation of the va- 
rious successes of the Corsican patriots, in arms. Several of the 
French officers, who had served in Corsica, often visited the 
school at Brienne, and the subject of conversation was frequent- 
ly the Corsican war. They would sometimes exaggerate their 
advantages over the Corsicans, and he allowed them quietly 
to proceed ; occasionally, however, asking a shrewd question ; 
but, when he was certain that they had falsified a fact, he would 
eagerly exclaim, " Are you not ashamed, for a momentary 
gratification of vanity, to slander a whole nation!" — At one 
time, an officer was describing a victory, which he said had 
been obtained by six-hundred of the French, when Buonaparte 
exclaimed, " You say that there were six-hundred of you, in 
the engagement : — I know that you were six-thousand, and were 
opposed only by a handful of wretched Corsican peasants." 

His manners were remarkable : his conduct was severe, and 
the prominent feature of his character was pride. His severity 
never forgave the offences of his companions. His resolutions 
were immoveable, and his firmness in trifles tinctured his be- 
haviour with obstinacy and eccentricity. Frequently engaged 
in quarrels, he was often the greatest sufferer, as he generally 
contended on the weakest side ; and, though he was mostly 
singled out as an object of revenge, he never complained, to 
his superiors, of ill-treatment. 

The boys of the school were, however, gradually familiarized 
to his temper : — he would not bend to them, and they were 
contented to concede to him. The insurrections of the scholars, 
against their masters, were frequent ; and young Buonaparte 
was either at the head of each rebellion, or was selected to 
advocate their complaints. He was therefore generally chosen 
as the leader, and suffered severe chastisement. He often vin- 



NAPOLEON. 13 

dicated his conduct, but never entreated pardon : he iJetened 
to reproach and to reproof, to promises and to threats, without 
emotion of fear, or indication of surprise. 

The meetings of the boys were on the plan of a mihtary 
estabhshment. They formed themselves into companies, each 
under the command of a captain and other officers, and the 
whole composed a battalion, with a colonel at its head. The 
officers were chosen by the boys, and decorated with the orna- 
ments usually attached to the French uniform. Buonaparte 
was unanimously chosen a captain. He, however, by no means 
courted their approbation : — soon after his election, he was 
summoned before a court-martial, and declared unworthy to 
command those comrades whose good- will he despised. 

The younger boys, however, were partial to Buonaparte's 
manners ; for he sometimes encouraged them in their sports, 
and they voted him, by acclamation, the " director of their di- 
versions." Without being restricted to observe the rules 
which are essential to modern mihtary duty? he could now 
bring his forces into the field, and direct all their operations ; 
and, having at length extended his authority over the whole 
school, he availed himself of this new command, and disciphned 
his comrades to a new mode of warfare. He divided them 
into two parties : they were alternately the Romans and the 
Carthaginians, the Greeks and the Persians. To represent 
the mode of lighting practised by the ancients, in the open field, 
Avas more easy, for these lads, than to imitate the movements 
of a modern army. Buonaparte therefore instituted and en- 
couraged the practice of ancient war : he excited the enthu- 
siasm of his youthful soldiery, by his speeches and his actions : 
he led on one party against another, and the victory was often 
disputed with an obstinacy, that would have honoured a more 
important struggle. At length, the games, which commenced 
in sport, seldom closed, until the wounds of the combatants 
proved the earnestness with which they contended ; and the 
superiors of the college having interfered, they reprimanded 
the young general Buonaparte, and prohibited a renewal of 
these battles. 

His activity now repressed in the only exercise to which he 
was attached, he retired to his favourite garden, resumed his 
former occupations, and, for a considerable time, appeared no 
more amongst his comrades. The severity of the weather had 
driven him from his retreat, the snow lay tliick upon the ground, 
and there had set in a hard frost. Ever fertile in expedients, 
Buonaparte determined to open a winter campaign, on a new 

B 



14 THE LIFE OF 

plan. The modern art of war succeeded to the ancient. Hav- 
mg been deeply engaged in the study of fortification, it was 
natural that he should desire to reduce its theory to practice. 
He called his fellow-pupils around him, and, having collected 
their gardening implements, and put himself at their head, he 
proceeded to procure large quantities of snow, which were 
brought to particular spots, as he directed, in the great court 
of the school. While they were thus occupied, he was tracing 
the boundaries of extensive fortifications : they soon formed 
entrenchments, and afterwards eagerly engaged in erecting 
forts, bastions, and redoubts of snow. 

The whole of these works were soon completed, according 
to the exact rules of war. The curiosity of the people of Bri- 
enne, and even of strangers, was excited, by the reports of their 
extent and scientific construction ; and they went, in crowds, 
during the winter, to admire them. Buonaparte alternately 
headed the assailants and their opponents ; uniting address 
with courage, and directing the operations with great applause. 
The weapons of the contending parties were snow-balls ; and 
he continually excited interest by some military manoeuvre, 
which always surprised, if it did not astonish. The superiors 
now encouraged the games of the boys, by praising those who 
were distinguished, and it was' not until the sun of March had 
liquefied the fortress, that it was declared no longer tenable. 

Another instance is recorded, of his juvenile enterprise and 
address. There was a fair, held, annually, in the neighbourhood 
of Brienne, at which the pupils of the military school used to 
find a day's amusement; but, on account of a quarrel between 
them and the country people, at a former time, the students 
were interdicted, by the professors of the institution, from going 
beyond their own precincts, which were surrounded by a wall. 
Under the direction of the young Corsican, however, the schol- 
ars had already matured a scheme, for enjoying their usual 
diversion. They had undermined the wall, which encompassed 
their exercising ground, with so much skill and secrecy, that 
their operations remained entirely unknown, until the morning 
of the fair; when a part of the boundary unexpectedly fell, and 
gave, to the imprisoned students, an easy passage ; of which, 
they immediately took the advantage, by hurrying to the pro- 
hibited scene of amusement. 

The pupils of the mihtary school, were permitted, every year, 
<on the day of St. Louis, (the twenty-fifth of August,) to devote 
themselves to pleasure, and the most noisy demonstrations of 
joy, almost without restraint. All punishment was suspended, all 



NAPOLEON. 15 

subordination ceased, and generally some accident occurred, 
before the day concluded. Those pupils who had attained four- 
teen years of age, an old custom of the college had allowed the 
privilege of buying a certain quantity of gunpowder ; and, for 
a long time before the day arrived, these youths would assem- 
ble, to prepare their fire-works. They were also permitted to 
discharge small cannon, muskets, and other fire-arms, as often 
as they thought proper. It was on St. Louis's day, in 1783, 
the last year of Buonaparte's remaining at the school, that he 
affected an entire indiflference to the means used by his com- 
rades for its celebration. They were all animation and hilarity, 
activity and spirit. He was all gloom and taciturnity, thought 
and reflection. Retired the whole day, in his garden, he not 
only did not participate in the general rejoicing, but pretended 
to continue his usual study and occupations, without being dis- 
turbed by the noise. His comrades were too much engaged 
in their amusements, to think of interrupting him, and would 
only have laughed at his strange behaviour, if an uncommon 
circumstance had not drawn upon him their general attention 
and resentment. Towards nine o'clock, in the evening, about 
twenty of the young people were assembled in the garden ad- 
joining his, in which the proprietor had promised to entertain 
them with a show. It consisted of a pyramid, composed of 
various fire-works : a light was applied, but unfortunately a 
box, containing several pounds of gninpowder, had been forgot- 
ten to be removed. While the youths were admiring the effects 
of the fire-works, a spark entered the box, which hastily ex- 
ploded ; some legs and arms were broken, two or three faces 
miserably burned, and several paces of the wall thrown down. 
The confusion was very great, and some of the lads, in their 
alarm, endeavoured to escape through the adjoining fence: they 
broke the palisades, and Buonaparte was seen stationed on the 
other side, armed with a pick-axe, repeUing the invasion of his 
little fortified dominion, and pushing back, into the fire, those 
who had burst the fence. 

In the month of October, in the same year, the young island- 
er, then only fourteen years old, and under the usual age, was 
sent, to have his education completed, to the principal school 
of Paris. This dispensing with a general rule of the institution, 
was a compliment paid to his extraordinary mathematical tal- 
ent, and the severity of his application. While at Paris, he 
attracted the same notice as at Brienne ; and, amongst other 
society, he frequented the literary parties of the celebrated 
abb^ Raynal. 



16 THE LIFE OF 

In his seventeenth year, Napoleon Buonaparte received his 
first commission, as a lieutenant, in a regiment of artillery, 
quartered in Valence. He now indulged himself more than 
formerly, by .mingling in society ; and rendered himself a dis- 
tinguished favourite, by the exhibition of his uncommon povi^ers 
of pleasing. His handsome and intelligent features, with his 
active and neat, though slight figure, gave him additional ad- 
vantages. His manners could scarcely be called elegant; but 
he compensated, by vivacity and variety of expression, and 
often by great energy and spirit, for any little deficiency in 
gra6e and pohsh. 

In 1792, Buonaparte became a captain in the artillery, by 
seniority ; and in the same year, being at Paris, he witnessed 
the two insurrections of the twenty-first of June and tenth of 
August. 

It was a remarkable incident, in the revolution, that it 
brought out, from his retirement, the celebrated general Paoli; 
who, long banished from Corsica, the freedom and indepen- 
dence of which he had so valiantly defended, returned, from 
exile, with the flattering hope of still witnessing the progress 
of liberty, in his native land. He was received, at Paris, with 
enthusiastic veneration, and created president of the depart- 
ment, and commander of the national guard of his beloved 
island ; powers which he exercised with great patriotism and 
wisdom. But Paoli's ideas of liberty were dissimilar to those 
which unhappily began, then, to prevail in France. He was 
desirous of estabhshing that species of freedom, which is the 
guardian, not the destroyer of property ; and which confers 
practical happiness, instead of aiming at imaginary perfection: 
he was therefore denounced in the national assembly, and sum- 
moned, for the purpose of making his defence. 

A large number of the inhabitants, embraced the principles 
of the aged champion; and an expedition was accordingly des- 
patched, to reduce the islanders to obedience. 

Buonaparte was in Corsica, on leave of absence from his 
regiment, during the occurrence of these events; and, although 
he himself and Paoli, had hitherto been on the most friendly 
terms, and that celebrated patriot had acted as god-father to 
the young artillerist, he did not hesitate, as to which side he 
would espouse. He embraced that of the convention ; and his 
first mihtary exploit was in the civil war of his native land. 

The strength of Paoli increasing, and the English preparing 
to assist him, Corsica became no longer a safe residence for 
the family of the Buonapartes. Lucien, who had distinguished 



NAPOLEON. n 

himself as a partisan of the convention, was subjected to a de- 
cree of banishment, from the island; and Madame Buonaparte, 
with her three daughters, and Jerome, who was yet a child ► 
sailed under the protection of Lucien and Napoleon, and set- 
tled, for a short period, first at Nice, and afterwards at Mar- 
seilles; where the family is supposed to have undergone consid- 
erable distress, until the happy fortunes of Napoleon enabled 
him to assist them. 

The high character, gained, by the genius and application 
of Napoleon, when at the miUtary schools, now operated, with 
full effect, in advancing him in the army. To the notes, always 
preserved, by the professors, concerning their scholars, he owed 
his promotion, when just entering on his twenty-fifth year, to 
the rank of brigadier general, with the command of the artil- 
lery, during the siege of Toulon; the first opportunity presented 
to him of displaying his transcendent genius. 

The people of this city, and the French vice-admiral, Turgot, 
had entered into a negotiation with the English admiral, lord 
Hood ; who, on the twenty-eighth of August, took possession 
of the town and shipping, in the name of Louis XVI ; under 
the express stipulation, that the admiral should assist in restor- 
ing the constitution of '89. 

When general Buonaparte had reached the scene of action, 
and visited the posts of the besieging army, before the arrival 
of Dugomier, he found so many marks of incapacity, that he 
could not conceal his astonishment. Batteries had been erect- 
ed, for destroying the English shipping, but they were three 
gun-shot's distance from the points which they were intended 
to command : red-hot balls were preparing ; not heated in fur- 
naces, beside the guns, but in the country houses, in the neigh- 
bourhood, at the most incredible distance, as if they had been 
articles of the most ordinary transportation. 

After the arrival of Dugomier, having the full concurrence 
of that able officer, in all his plans, the young general of artil- 
lery entertained no doubt of complete success. But, to ensure 
it, he used the utmost diligence and exertion, and exposed his 
person to every risk. In a skirmish, he received a bayonet 
wound, in the thigh, by which, however, he was not disabled. 
On another occasion, he incurred a danger of a singular char- 
acter. An artillery-man being shot, at a gun which he was 
serving, while Napoleon was visiting a battery, he took up the 
dead man's rammer, and, to give encouragement to the sol- 
diers, charged the gun, repeatedly, with his own hands. 

At another time, when overlooking the erection of a battery, 

B2 



18 THE LIFE OF 

which the enemy endeavoured to interrupt, by their fire, he 
called for some person that could write, that he might dictate 
an order. A young soldier having stepped out of the ranks, 
began, accordingly, to write. A shot, from the enemy's bat- 
tery, covered the letter with earth, the moment it was finished. 
— "Thank you," said the military secretary; "we shall have 
no occasion for sand, this time." — The gayety and courage of 
the remark, drew Buonaparte's attention upon the young man; 
who was Junot, afterwards so celebrated, and created duke of 
Abrantes. 

The war on the frontiers of Spain, produced nothing except 
petty skirmishes, unworthy of detail; and the king of Savoy 
made only slow progress, in recovering his possessions, which 
the British ministry were so generous as to guarantee to him, 
at an immense expense. 



CHAPTER II. 

WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

1793—1802. 

On the twenty-fourth of January, three days after the death 
of Louis, the French ambassador at London received orders to 
quit the kingdom ; and, on the first day of February, the na- 
tional convention, on the motion of Brissot, declared war 
against the king of England, and also, the Stadtholder of the 
United Provinces. 

By an article of a treaty, concluded in the year 1786, be- 
tween France and England, the dismissal of an ambassador, 
from either country, was agraed to be considered as a declara- 
tion of war ; yet, the British ministry might now insist, that the 
treaty referred to, was concluded with the king of France, not 
with the republic; and it is diflicult to ascertain which party 
was, in the present contest, the first aggressor. 

The English cabinet immediately embarked a considerable 
body of troops, under the command of the duke of York, to 
support the Dutch. 

It is not our design to narrate, minutely, the military opera- 
tions that succeeded. The war was spread over an immense 
frontier, and conducted with various success. Maestricht was 



NAPOLEON. 19 

invested, early in February, by general Miranda ; and defended 
with resolution, by the prince of Hesse. The head-quarters 
of general Valence were at Liege, while his outposts extended 
to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the banks of the Roer. On the first 
of March, general Clairfait, having passed that river, in the 
night, compelled the French to retreat, as far as Alderhaven, 
with the loss of two-thousand men : on the following day, the 
archduke Charles attacked several French batteries, and took 
nine pieces of cannon ; and, on the third, the prince of Saxe- 
Cobourg obtained a signal victory over the republican troops, 
and drove them from Aix-la-Chapelle, to the vicinity of Liege. 

On the sixteenth, a general engagement took place, at Neer- 
winden. The action continued, with great obstinacy, on both 
sides, from seven in the morning, until sunset ; when Dumou- 
rier was obliged to retreat, and the Austrian cavalry coming 
up, put his army entirely to flight. The month, however, had 
not ended, before the French commander in a great measure 
repaired the disaster of the sixteenth. On the twenty-first, 
having been attacked, by the imperialists, near Louvain, he 
compelled them to retreat, with a heavy loss. 

This was the last achievement of Dumourier. In the even- 
ing, he concluded an armistice, with the imperial commander ; 
and, in a few days afterwards, declared his intention of march- 
ing to Paris, against the Jacobins, and re-establishing a con- 
stitutional monarchy, in France. " They will ruin France,'' 
said he, " but I will save it, though they should call me a 
Caesar, a Cromwell, or a Monk." — Commissioners were sent, 
by the convention, to arrest the general, at St. Amand ; but, 
having given the signal for a body of soldiers, who were in 
waiting, he immediately ordered them into confinement, and 
delivered them to the Austrians, as hostages for the safety of 
the royal family. 

But, notwithstanding his splendid talents, Dumourier appears 
to have been widely mistaken, with regard to the disposition 
of his army. When he proposed to them the restoration of 
monarchy, in the person of the dauphin, and to turn their arms 
against their country, the patriotism of Frenchmen resumed its 
accustomed influence, and they considered it their duty to dis- 
obey. On the fourth of April, conceiving himself in the utmost 
danger, he mounted a horse, belonging to a servant of the young 
Egalite, and escaped, from his indignant soldiers, through a 
dreadful discharge of musquetry, which the whole column 
poured upon him and his associates ; then, proceeding along 
the Scheldt, he passed the ferry, near the village of Wick, in 



20 THE LIFE OF 

the imperial dominions ; from which place, he continued his 
route, on foot, to Bury; where, in the evening, he had an inter- 
view with an Austrian officer, colonel Mack. 

All that this able and ambitious man saved, in his retreat, 
was merely his life ; of which, he spent some years afterwards 
in Germany, concluding it, in England, at a very advanced 
age,^ without again making any figure in the political horizon ; 
although he occasionally afforded the British ministers his 
opinion, upon matters relating to the invasion of the continent. 

Possessed, by the defection of Dumourier, of all the Nether- 
lands, with the same rapidity with which they had, by that 
general, been previously conquered, the alhes again resolved 
to attack the frontiers of France. The navies of England, 
Holland, and Spain, were to act in concert, and form a chain 
of cruisers around the coast ; all trade was to be intercepted, 
the nation to be blocked up and starved, and succours to be 
afforded the royalists, wherever they should appear. 

But the efforts of the French, in repelling these attacks, were 
commensurate with the endeavours with which they were pre- 
pared. Commissioners were sent to the army, who omitted no 
means of restoring order, and invigorating the spirit of the 
troops. General Dampierre, who had evinced his patriotism, 
by resisting the order of Dumourier, was appointed to the chief 
command ; and was enabled to lead his troops to frequent vic- 
tory, until, by a too great exposure of his person, he was killed, 
by a cannon ball, leaving the command in the hands of general 
La Marche. 

The danger, to which the republic was exposed, from foreign 
and domestic enemies, could not appease the factious members 
of the convention. Three-hundred of the Gironde party, were 
denounced, as accomplices of Dumourier, by the turbulent 
Marat, supported by his colleague, Robespierre ; in conse- 
quence of which, a violent tumult ensued, and the deputies, on 
each side of the hall, advanced, to assault each other, with 
drawn swords, but were, by the authority of the president, at 
length restrained. The Girondists recriminated, and Gaudet 
presented a direct accusation against Marat, for his attempts 
against the convention; but the jury by whom he was tried, 
were either afraid to condemn him, or were themselves of his 
party, and he was acquitted. 

The victory over the Gironde, was not suffered to pass un- 
improved. On the second of June, Marat and his atrocious 

* In 1823, in his eighty-fifth year. 



NAPOLEON. 21 

colleagues, excited an insurrection ; the Tuileries, in which 
the convention now held their meetings, were surrounded, by 
twenty-thousand soldiers, and a furious mob ; and, on the mo- 
tion of Couthon, more than thirty of the most distinguished of 
the moderate republicans, were proscribed, as traitors, and 
ordered under arrest, and the remainder consulted their safety 
by retiring. 

The insurrection of the second of June, was dignified with 
the name of a revolution ; and a new constitution, of still more 
democratic features, than the preceding, was accordingly fram- 
ed ; the concluding article of which, declares, that, " when the 
government violates the law, insurrection becomes the duty of 
the people." It established the pure government of the mul- 
titude. But this constitution was no sooner made, than sus- 
pended ; and the revolutionary government, while they were 
amending it, was maintained until the peace. 

Marat was suffered, only for short period, to enjoy his tri- 
umph. The enthusiasm of a young woman, a native of St. 
Saturnin, in Normandy, named Charlotte Cord ay, relieved her 
country from the sanguinary machinations of this horrid mon- 
ster. She was now in her twenty-fifth year, and was brought 
up at Caen, where her beauty and accomplishments were seen 
and admired, by Belsunce, the major of a regiment, then quar- 
tered in the town. The death of this worthy favourite, who 
was murdered by some assassins, excited the vengeance of the 
youthful heroine ; and, when she saw her lover branded with 
the name of conspirator, in the journal published by Marat, 
she hastened to Paris ; determined to sacrifice, to her resent- 
ment, the man who had so shamefully abused the object of her 
affections, and proscribed all the deputies of merit and virtue 
in the convention. She was, at first, refused admittance, at 
the house of Marat ; but she obtained access to him by writing 
a letter, in which she informed him, that she wished to disclose 
some secret of importance ; and, on the fourteenth of July, 
while the tyrant was engaged in conversation with her, she 
stabbed him to the heart, and he fell lifeless at her feet. She 
was immediately apprehended, and, glorying in the deed, was 
condemned, and carried to the scaffold. When the executioner 
took off her neck-handkerchief, the moment before she bent 
under the fatal axe, she blushed deeply ; and her head, which 
was held up to the multitude, the instant after, exhibited that 
last impression of offended modesty. 

That the Girondists would not submit passively to their de- 
feat, and that an insurrection would be the consequence of the 



22 THE LIFE OF 

events of the second of June, were to be expected. Brissot 
and some others of the proscribed members, fled precipitately 
to the departments, and spread the alarm against their oppo- 
nents. But the southern departments, only, remained attached 
to the fallen party. The city of Lyons, in particular, which had, 
from the first dawn of the revolution, declared for monarchy 
and aristocracy, embraced this new convulsion, as a moment 
favourable to her wishes. Engaged chiefly in the manufac- 
ture of silk, the costly habits of a court and the nobility suited 
the commerce of the Lyonese, better than the simple costume 
of a republic ; and thus, were they mterested in upholding the 
ancient regime. The cities of Marseilles and Toulon, together 
with the whole department of the Gironde, followed the exam- 
ple of Lyons, and entered into a league for dissolving the con- 
vention. 

Of all the Girondists, who took refuge in their own peculiar 
province, Louvert alone escaped. Gaudet, Salles, and Barba- 
roux, were executed, at Bourdeaux ; but not until the last had 
twice attempted suicide, with his pistols. Buzot and Petion 
put an end to their existence, and were found dead in a field 
of corn. Condorcet was arrested, and escaped the guillotine, 
by poison. Valeze, in a transport of indignation, stabbed him- 
self, before the court. Vergniaud, having a presage of his im- 
pending fate, had early provided himself with poison ; but, 
finding that his young friends, Fronfrede and Duces, who he 
had some hopes would be spared, were companions of his mis- 
fortune, he gave the phial to the officer of the guard, resolved 
to await the appointed moment, and to perish with them. 
Roland was found dead, on the high road ; accomplishing a 
prophecy of his wife, whom the Jacobins had condemned to 
death, and who had declared her conviction that her husband 
would not long survive her. That remarkable woman made, 
before the revolutionary tribunal, a defence, in a bolder strain, 
than the most eloquent of the Girondists. She met her death 
with unusual firmness ; exclaiming, as she passed the statue of 
Liberty, on her road to execution, " Ah, Liberty ! what crimes 
are committed in thy name !" 

Brissot, Sillery, Fauchet, Carra, the generals Custine and 
Luckner, with about twenty other illustrious victims of the 
blood-thirsty Robespierre, the prime mover of these judicial 
massacres, met their fate with all the calmness of innocence, 
and the dignity of heroic virtue. Claviere, the co-minister of 
Roland, snatched himself from the hands of the tyrant, by a 
voluntary death. 



NAPOLEON. ' 23 

Lavoisier, the celebrated chemist, was another of the pro- 
scribed. He had long been employed in an important philo- 
sophical experiment, and requested only the short respite of a 
fortnight, to complete it ; but his prayer was not granted. 

Not the least remarkable of the sufferers, during the reign 
of terror, was the duke of Orleans. He had become an object 
of suspicion and jealousy, with every party ; and the charge 
upon which his condemnation rested, was his aspiring to the 
throne. 

While the vitals of France were thus rent asunder, by con- 
tending factions, she was surrounded by a combination of 
foreign enemies, unparalleled, for their strength and number, 
in the annals of mankind. Nearly every state of Europe was 
under arms, for the prostration of the repubhc. Switzerland, 
Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey, were the only powers that re- 
mained neutral. 

The advantage gained, by the British and Hanoverian troops, 
in the battle of Famars, enabled them to lay siege to Valen- 
ciennes ; which highly important place was surrendered, on 
the twenty-sixth of July, to the duke of York : about the same 
time, the Austrian general, Wurmser, gained possession of 
Mentz ; and soon afterwards the French were driven from a 
strong post, occupied by them, on the Scheldt, known by the 
name of Caesar's Camp. 

These were the last victories, of which the allies had, at this 
period, to boast. The protraction of the sieges, had enabled 
the French to recover from the disorganization caused by the 
defection of Dumourier, and other deserters ; and that energy, 
which thinking men, from the first, foresaw would defeat the 
unjust projects of the allied powers, began, once more, to be 
displayed. 

After the fall of Valenciennes, the duke of York proceeded 
to the reduction of Dunkirk. Unsupported, however, in this 
enterprise, from the neglect of the naval department of Eng- 
land, to despatch a sufficient fleet, to co-operate against this 
celebrated fortress, the British commander was compelled, on 
the sixth of September, to retire precipitately from before its 
walls. The duke was obhged to swim his horse across a rivu- 
let ; and might have been taken prisoner, but for the negligence 
of general Houchard ; for which breach of duty, this officer 
suffered death. 

Jourdan, who had been a general of division, under Houchard, 
now succeeded to the command. This officer had been trained 
to the artillery service ; and, with Hoche and Pichegru, and 



24 THE LIFE OF 

others who have since distinguished themselves, at the head of 
French armies, in the most splendid operations, had reached, 
before the revolution, the highest rank for which merit alone 
could hope, under the royal government — that of sergeant. 

In the middle of October, Jourdan attacked the allies, with 
so much skill and decision, as to compel the prince of Cobourg, 
after suffering immense loss, to abandon a position which he 
had fortified with the utmost care^. Following up his success, 
he penetrated into maritime Flanders ; took Werwick, and 
obhged general Erbach to evacuate Menin, and retreat to 
Courtray ; nor did he halt, in his rapid career of victory, be- 
fore he arrived opposite the walls of Ostend. 

The republican forces were still more successful, in repelling 
the attempts of the insurgents, in La Vendee. The country 
which was the scene of this insurrection, is situated between 
the Loire and the Charente ; forming part of the territory which 
had been called, under the ancient government, the province 
of Poictou. It had little intercourse with the rest of the re- 
public, except what arose from the export of its superfluous 
cattle. In this insulated district, the feudal system had been 
maintained, in all its rigour : there was neither education nor 
civihzation, because there was no middle class ; and there was 
no middle class, because there were few or no towns. From 
its geographical situation, it had received only a few feeble 
rays of the light of that liberty which had burst forth in France ; 
and, as already the seeds of discord had been scattered by the 
clergy, and by foreign intrigues, it was fitted to become the 
retreat of all who were averse to the new order of public af- 
fairs. In the hope of restoring monarchy, a vast project of 
insurrection was formed ; which comprised not only La Ven- 
dee, and the adjoining departments, but extended itself through 
a great part of Brittany. Before the end of March, the royalists 
had organized an army of forty-thousand men, at the head of 
whom they placed general Vi^impsen ; and had begun their 
march to the capital, before the convention was apprized of the 
insurrection. In two pitched battles, they defeated the repub- 
licans : they gained possession of a country fifty leagues in ex- 
tent ; and of the Loire, almost as far as Paris. Nor did they 
rely solely upon domestic aid. An expedition had been planned, 
by the English ministers, for the purpose of co-operation with 
the insurgent forces ; and the earl of Moira, who had distin- 
guished himself in the war with the American colonies, was 
selected, to lead the troops destined to this service, and to land 
upon the coast of Brittany. The scheme, however, partook 



NAPOLEON. 26 

of the imbecility which characterized nearly all the measures 
of Wilham Pitt's administration. The expedition was delayed, 
until the royalists were subdued ; and, when the transports ap- 
peared off the coast, they found the republican army so well 
prepared for their reception, that they returned to England. 

It would be tedious, to enter into a more particular detail of 
the Vendean war. The insurgents made a most vigorous re- 
sistance, against every effort of the convention, until the mid- 
dle of October ; when, after fighting more than two-hundred 
battles, they were completely routed, by general Hoche. 

The formidable union, which had been organized, under the 
name of " federate republicanism," between the cities of Mar- 
seilles, Lyons, and Toulon, still, however, continued. On the 
twenty-fourth of August, Marseilles submitted, to general Car- 
taux ; and, in the following month, Lyons was forced to sur- 
render, to general Doppet. But the arms of the convention 
were not equally fortunate, at Toulon. Of the siege of this 
important depot and harbour for the marine of France, we 
have already spoken, in a preceding chapter, though rather 
out of the regular order of time, when introducing the military 
exploits of general Buonaparte. 

A considerable part of the great city of Lyons, was levelled 
with the ground, and its streets were crimsoned with human 
blood. The guillotine was found to be too slow a mode of 
execution : and Collot d'Herbois devised a more summary 
kind of slaughter. Harbouring in his breast a determination 
of revenge against the inhabitants of the devoted city, who, 
when a player, had hissed him, for his wretched acting, he or- 
dered several hundred victims, at once, to be dragged, from 
prison, to one of the largest squares of Lyons, and there sub- 
jected to a fire of grape-shot. 

The number of arrests which were made through France, 
again filled the prisons, which had been so fearfully emptied 
on the second and third of September ; and it is said that the 
number now immured, was at least three-hundred-thousand; 
one-third of whom were women. The quantity of blood at 
this time shed, was unequalled, even during the proscriptions 
of the Roman empire : one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand persons 
are computed to have suffered death. 

Amidst the multifarious and perplexing concerns of legisla- 
tion, war, and judicial prosecution, the convention found leisure 
to amend, or at least to alter, the existing mode of computing 
time, in Europe. The new French era commenced from the 

C 



26 THE LIFE OF 

foundation of the republic, on the twenty-second of September? 
1792. The year was divided into twelve equal months, of 
thirty days ; each month, into three decades, often days each ; 
five supplementary days were added, not belonging to any par- 
ticular month; and one intercalary day, at the end of every 
fourth year. The natural day was divided into ten parts, each 
part into ten subdivisions, and so on, to the least measurable 
portion of time. The sabbatical week, was, by this new ar- 
rangement, abolished, and with it, the Christian observation of 
the seventh day ; the tenth being ordained as the future day 
of rest.* 

We must not wonder at the mere abrogation of the ancient, 
and the establishment of the decadal sunday. There was, at 
this time, no public worship of the Deity, observed in France : 
the churches were all either closed, or demolished ; the Jaco- 
binical doctrine denied the existence of a God, and declared 
death to be the commencement of an everlasting sleep. 

Vigorous measures were taken, to invest Toulon. On the 
eighth of September, the siege was opened, by general Cartaux : 
but this officer having, for his inactivity, been removed, was 
succeeded by the veteran, Dugomier ; to whom, aided by many 
other able tacticians, particularly La Borde, Duroc, and Napo- 
leon Buonaparte, the city was abandoned, on the eighteenth, 
after a most obstinate defence, by a mixed garrison, of about 
eleven-thousand men. Ten days had been consumed, in re- 
ducing the formidable outworks. The bombardment was con- 
tinued until ten at night ; the scaling ladders were already ap- 
phed, to the walls, and four-thousand shells ready to be thrown, 
to cover the escalade, when it was found that the enemy had 



The conflagration, caused by the flying enemy, was no less 
terrific, than destructive. The city, the great arsenal of France, 
was, in many places, on fire ; and the flames, scattered under 
the direction of Sir Sydney Smith, a captain in the English 
navy, were devouring the arsenals, rope-houses, magazines of 



"^ The new names of the months, were; for Autumn. J^endemaire, 
Brumaire, and Frimaire — or vintage, fog, and sleet months : for Win- 
ter, Jfivose, Pluviose, and Ventose^ — snow, rain, and wind months; 
for Spring, Germinal^ Floreal, and Priaireal — sprouts, flowers, and 
pasture months; for Summer, Jllessidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor — 
harvest, hot, and fruit months. 

The days of the week were named, Primodi, Duodi Tridi, Quartidi, 
Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi, Decadi. 



NAPOLEON. 27 

timber, and the fleet. Nine ships of the line, and three frigates, 
were burned ; and ten vessels of war were carried off, by the 
British and Spanish fleets. 



CHAPTER III. 

END OF THE REIGN OF TERROR. 

In the convention, the incidents that occurred, during 
the year into which we are now entering, were as vari- 
ous and as interesting, as at any other period of the revolution. 
In the beginning of February, three deputies from the island 
of St. Domingo, were admitted, and took their seats. One of 
these representatives, was a negro ; the other two were mulat- 
toes. On the following day, one of their number gave an ac- 
count of the disturbances in that island; and delivered a pane- 
gyric upon the oppressed race of which he was a member. — 
" Who are these men," said he, " represented as so worthless, 
and so wicked ? Who can say they are not good fathers, aflfec- 
tionate husbands, and obedient sons ; that they are not friends 
to the poor, protectors of the helpless, the guardians, alike, of 
infancy and age? Is it matter of wonder, that six-hundred- 
thousand men of colour, shaking off their chains, should be so 
terrible, to those who would wish to enslave them, contrary to 
the example and wishes of the country by which they have been 
adopted ? They demand only liberty to work, and wages for 
their labour!''^ 

The deputy had no sooner concluded, than Lacroix moved 
that slavery should be totally abolished, in the French colonies; 
and that all persons of colour, residing in them, should be con- 
sidered as citizens of France. The convention arose, by a 
spontaneous emotion, and passed the decree. The hall then 
exhibited a most affecting scene : the members, individually, 
embraced the deputies; tears of joy trickled down their cheeks; 
and a female negro, who had assiduously attended the meetings 
of the convention, fainted, with delight. 

The progress of the several factions, in France, affords very 
ample materials for the historian. The fall of the Girondists, 
was a signal for contest, between the Jacobins and Cordehers; 
who, having both composed that division of the convention, 



28 THE LIFE OF 

called the Mountain,* and concurred in the overthrow of their 
formidable rival, began, now, to struggle for power, amongst 
themselves ; and, by their mutual jealousies, and alternate pror 
scriptions, so far to extract the venom out of both, as to change 
the convention, from a den of furious assassins, to a body of 
patriotic legislators, assembled to consult for the public good. 

The leader, at this time, of the Cordehers, was Hebert. To 
conciliate the poor and ignorant, the wildest theories, and anti- 
religious doctrines, were promulgated, by this factious club ; 
and even an agrarian law, or an equal division of all the lands 
amongst the people, was held forth, as the summit of perfect 
government, and equal rights. With these doctrines, the fanat- 
ics had assumed a consistent garb. The term, sans culotte, 
which, from its origin, had become a term of pride, and had 
been adopted, with much effect, by the victorious legions of 
the repubhc, was now the only appellation tolerated by them : 
their habiliments were long trowsers or pantaloons, short jack- 
ets, black wigs, or red caps ; their hair was cut short behind, 
and worn without powder ; and their linen was always soiled. 

This species of attire was a very singular contrast to that of 
Robespierre ; who always appeared dressed with studied neat- 
ness, and powdered hair; a circumstance that did not pass 
unobserved, in the journal of Hebert, called Pere Duchesne. 

In the beginning of March, the table of the rights of man, 
in the hall of the Cordeliers, was covered with black crape; 
and Hebert, from the tribune of the society, asserted, that 
" Tyranny existed in the republic." 

This charge, designed to impHcate the dictator of the con- 
vention, did not long pass unnoticed. While he caused the 
cities of the republic to be deluged with the blood of his daily 
victims, Robespierre professed, like other hypocrites, to be 
strongly under the influence of religion ; and, to widen the 
sources from which he might obtain his future victims, he had 
renounced the profession of atheism, and obtained a solemn 
decree, in the convention, recognising the existence of a God. 
Hebert, Anacharsis Cloots, and seventeen others, charged with 
atheism, and various crimes against the republic, were there- 
fore brought to trial, and executed, amidst the applauses of the 
fickle multitude. 

* The party of the Mountain, were so named from the elevated 
seats, which they occupied, in that part of the chamber, farthest from 
the president's chair : the Cordeliers received their appellation, like 
the Jacobins, from a monastery in which they used to meet, formerly 
inhabited by a fraternity of monks, of that name. 



NAPOLEON. 29 

The death of Hebert was the signal for throwing off the hid- 
eous masquerade of sans-culotism ; in which, nearly the whole 
of France had been arrayed, during the preceding winter. 
Black wigs, red caps, and short jackets, were now laid aside ; 
and the eye was once more cheered, with the appearance of 
clean linen and powdered locks. 

The success and popularity of Robespierre, in this last pro- 
scription, were so great, as to ensure him unlimited control 
over the lives of all who stood in the way of his ambition. The 
Gironde had fallen before him; the Cordeliers had been severed 
and destroyed : — his coadjutors on the Mountain, were now to 
partake of his unquenchable ire. Pretended conspiracies were 
again hatched, in his prohfic brain ; and a new brood of imagi- 
nary traitors brought forth, to be immolated on his bloody altar. 
Danton, his powerful associate in the clubs ; Camille Desmou- 
lins, his school-fellow and early friend ; Fabre d' Eglantine, 
Herault, Philippaux, and Lacroix ; were, on the second of 
April, carried before the revolutionary tribunal, found guilty 
of a conspiracy against the republic, and consigned to the scaf- 
fold of the guillotine. 

Danton, who was beheaded in his thirty-fifth year, was a 
native of Arcy-sur-Aube, in the department of Calais, and had 
been educated for the bar. His talents, so much abased, were 
superior to his education. He perplexed his judges by the 
keenest sallies of wit, and pointed invective ; and showed his 
contempt for the tribunal, by throwing, into their faces, little 
balls of paste. 

Desmoulins was born at Guise, in Picardy. He displayed 
his republican zeal at the taking of the Bastile, and in the de- 
struction of the monarchal power ; and, as the friend of Dan- 
ton, he was one of the founders of the Jacobin club, and had a 
share in the atrocities of the twentieth of June and the tenth 
of August '92. When seized in the night, he opened his win- 
dows, and called in vain for help, against the satellites of tyran- 
ny ; and with Young's Night Thoughts, and Hervey's Medita- 
tions, in his hand, he was dragged to prison, and immediately 
afterwards to the scaffold ; and his wife, who wished to share 
his fate, was permitted, ten days afterwards, to lay her head 
upon the same block. 

D'Eglantine, a native of Carcassone, in the department of 
Aude, was now in the fortieth year of his age; and, with a rest- 
less spirit, became, successively, an actor, a comic writer, and 
a statesman. Though originally poor, he soon became very 

C 2 



30 THE LIFE OF 

rich. He wrote some plays which possess merit, and is par- 
ticularly known as the person who recommended and intro- 
duced into France, that puerile calendar, which was opposed 
to the habits, the opinions, and the prejudices of the rest of 
Europe. 

Before the end of summer, many other distinguished per- 
sons, were added to the gloomy catalogue, for decapitation. 
Amongst these, were Malesherbes, formerly associated in the 
administration with Turgot, and afterwards the generous de- 
fender of Louis, upon his trial ; also, (in the seventieth year of 
his age,) the eccentric baron Trenck, a nobleman of Prussia ; 
whose hfe had been an uninterrupted course of suffering, from 
the ingenious cruelty of despotism, in his native land. Thomas 
Paine, too, was marked down for death, by the sanguinary- 
tyrant ; but a fever had seized this latter victim ; and his exe- 
cution was suspended, until he should be restored to health. 

In the mean time, the tyrant's own fate was decided. Per- 
sons of the most dastardly spirit, could submit, no longer, to 
be subjected to proscription, by so contemptible a monster. 
The fate of Danton had excited horror, in the convention; and 
it was clearly seen, that the design of Robespierre was to re- 
move every member of sufficient influence to raise, in his timid 
mind, either jealousy or fear. Tallien, Barras, Bourdon, Le- 
gendre, Lecointre, Merlin de Thionville, and Billaud de Va- 
rennes, being amongst those who were the most sensible of 
their danger, resolved to prevent their own death, by the de- 
struction of the tyrant. Having artfully prepared the pubhc 
mind, and taken the most judicious measures for diminishing 
the influence of the demagogue, over the Parisian mob, on the 
ninth Thermidor (twenty-seventh of July) they impeached 
Robespierre, St. Just, Couthon, Henriot, and their adherents, 
of a conspiracy against the convention. They were, accord- 
ingly, arrested ; but, having been rescued from confinement, 
were led, in triumph, by a body of Jacobins, to the Hotel de 
Ville ; where they formed themselves into a separate conven- 
tion, and set the arm of justice at defiance. But Robespierre 
soon discovered that his reliance on the mob was fallacious. 
Convinced that his tyrannical career was ended, he shot him- 
self, in the mouth, with a pistol. The ball did not produce the 
desired effect ; but carried away his tongue, and part of his 
under-jaw ; and, at the same time, he received a sabre wound, 
from a soldier, who attempted to cut down his pistol-arm. His 
brother leaped out of a window, and broke one of his legs, and 
an arm ; his brother-in-law? Le Bas, shot himself dead, on the 



NAPOLEON. 3t 

spot ; Couthon attempted suicide, by stabbing himself with a 
knife ; and Henriot, while haranguing the soldiers, below, was 
thrown out of the window, and, by the fall, his arm was broken, 
but he was not killed. At length, the survivors were all seized, 
and dragged before the revolutionary committee ; by which 
horrid tribunal, so often the instrument of his own insatiable 
tyranny, Robespierre, and the other two triumvirs, together 
with twenty-three more of his associates in crime, were sen- 
tenced to death ; and, on the twenty-eighth of July, expiated 
their crimes, by that punishment whicli they had inflicted upon so 
many thousand others, amidst a loud burst of public execration. 

Thus fell, by the hands of men scarcely less criminal than 
himself, a monster, who, in cruelty, surpassed all the tyrants, 
both of ancient and modern times ; and whose death put an 
end to what is so emphatically denominated " the reign of 
terror." 

In an epitaph, of which the following couplet may serve as 
a translation, his life was represented as incompatible with the 
existence of the human race : — 

" Here lies Robespierre — let no tear be shed : 
Reader, if he had lived, thou hadst been dead." 

Maximilian Robespierre was beheaded at the age of thirty- 
five. He was born of poor parents, at Arras, and left an or- 
phan, at an early age. The bishop of that diocese, took him 
under his protection, bestowed upon him a hberal education, 
and designed him for the profession of the law. He gained 
several literary prizes ; but his legal studies were not attended 
with equal success. Yet, not the less confident in his own 
abilities, he already imagined himself disputing the palm of 
eloquence with the first speakers of the age. His patron re- 
moved him to Paris ; but, after a long and fruitless trial, he 
was under the necessity of recalling Iiim to his native city ; 
where, instead of practising as a barrister, he was reduced to 
act as an obscure attorney ; a branch of the profession, better 
suited to the mediocrity of his talents.* After his return to 
Paris, his mind brooded, in abhorrence, on his disappointment; 
and he thenceforth became the implacable persecutor of genius. 
His petulance and acerbity were visible, in all his legal under- 
takings. His habit of body gradually obtained a character 
corresponding with his mind. In his person, he was of low 

* In the United States, the two branches of lawyer or barrister, and 
attorney, are united, in the same person: in Europe, the attorney 
institutes the action, and the lawyer conducts the arguments in court. 



32 THE LIFE OF 

stature, not more than five feet and a half; in his early years, 
he was ruddy and round ; in his manhood, he became meagre, 
his features harsh and forbidding; his eye scowled, and his 
complexion was cadaverous and livid. The revolution forced 
him from his desk; and he was elected a deputy in '89. In 
the constituent assembly, he was scarely known ; and, had he 
died then, his character would have gone down along with him, 
into the grave. He was elected, to the convention, by the city 
of Paris, together with his younger brother ; but, even at this 
advanced stage of the revolution, he was the advocate of kings, 
and defended royalty, against Brissot. His politics, however, 
soon afterwards, changed ; and, with the death of the king, he 
became as violent a defender of republicanism ; and exchanged 
the cant of ancestry and divine right, for the more fashionable 
jargon of the sans culottes. 

In the following summer, Carriere, Foquiere de Tinville, 
the public accuser, together with fourteen of their atrocious 
colleagues, were taken to the scaffold ; and Barrere, Collot 
d'Herbois, and Billaud de Varennes, were exiled to Guiana, 

John Baptist Carriere, now in his thirty-ninth year, was born 
near Aurillac. He was educated for the law, and, having been 
chosen a deputy to the national convention, was sent, as an 
able missionary, to La Vendee, with a number of assassins. In 
this office, he became known for his refined cruelty. At Nantes, 
the scene of his barbarities, he often, in one day, caused more 
than twenty persons to be put to death, though young and inno- 
cent ; and, by a new mode of torment, placed them male and 
female together, in barges, on the Loire, and then sunk the 
vessels in the middle of the river. 

Notwithstanding those internal scenes of horror, the exer- 
tions of the republic, were, at this period, prodigious, and 
almost incredible. France nov>^ displayed a political and mih- 
tary picture, to which no parallel can be found, in the history 
of any other country, whether barbarous or civilized. Her 
councils were directed by committees, her armies by officers 
just emerged from the lowest ranks. The number of troops 
which she had actually in the field, amounted to seven-hundred- 
and-eighty-thousand. Placed between the scaffolds of Paris, 
and the cannon of their enemies, sure of the guillotine, if de- 
feated, having no alternative between death and victory, her 
generals immortalized their names, by the boldness of their 
enterprises, and the splendour of their success. Pichegru, 
Jourdan, and Moreau, have raised for themselves, monuments, 
not less durable than time itself. 



NAPOLEON. 33 

Pichegru was appointed to command the army in Flanders. 
Operations commenced, with extraordinary vigour, on both 
sides. The emperor Francis II. took the field, at the head 
of the confederation ; and, being joined by the duke of York, 
and seconded by the ablest commanders of the north, a most 
active scene of hostilities was opened. Many obstinate and 
bloody engagements ensued, with various success ; but, at 
length, Pichegru and Jourdan pouring a tremendous force 
against the allies, the French once more became masters of all 
the Austrian Netherlands, the seven United Provinces of the 
Dutch, and a considerable part of Germany, on the western 
side of the Rhine. 

No obstacle was sufficient to arrest the republican soldiers, 
in their career of conquest. If the rivers were too deep to 
admit of being forded, they were crossed by swimming ; if 
frozen, the ice served the purpose of a bridge. In the latter 
end of December, the cold increased, to so great a degree, that 
the Waal, above Nimeguen, was so severely frozen, as to carry 
any weight ; and exhibited a grand spectacle, that of the re- 
publican army — infantry, cavalry, and artillery — manoeuvring 
on the ice, with the same facility as on solid ground. 

The battles of Arlon and Fleurus were the most conspicuous. 
In the former, the Austrian general, Beaulieu, was defeated, 
with immense loss, by Jourdan, after an action which lasted 
for two successive days. The battle of Fleurus, fought on the 
twenty-sixth of June, was one of the most severely contested 
engagements, that history records ; having continued from day^ 
break, till the close of night. Though defeated, the valour of 
the allies was signal. The victory, however, was so decisive, 
that'the enemy never ceased from their flight, until they had 
reached Halle, thirty miles from the field of battle ; having lost 
thirty-eight standards, and nearly fifteen-thousand men. 

iEronauts were now trained, at Paris, for the several di- 
visions of the army. A balloon having been prepared at Fleu- 
rus, was attached by cords, which, being held below, enabled 
it to be elevated or depressed, as occasion might require. In 
the car, were seated an adjutant and a general, together with a 
skilful engineer, who, by means of their elevation, and good 
telescopes, were enabled to discover the movements of the 
enemy, and communicate them, from time to time, to Jourdan, 
by a note attached to a ring and bullet, gliding down one of 
the cords. They remained, at two several periods, four hours 
in the air. The experiment, however, had nearly proved fatal. 
Their intended ascent had been known to the enemy ; who, at 



34 THE LIFE OF 

the moment the balloon began to take its flight, opened the fire 
of a battery against it. The first volley was directed too low ; 
but one ball afterwards passed between the balloon and the car. 

This memorable campaign was not only glorious, but per- 
manently advantageous to France. Harassed by repeated dis- 
appointments, the king of Prussia, on the thirteenth of March, 
announced his secession from the grand alliance ; and, before, 
the summer had far advanced, the emperor withdrew from the 
army, in utter despair of success ; to seek, in the amusements 
of Vienna, some compensation for that pleasure which he had 
vainly expected to enjoy in the field, in destroying, with his 
high-trained veterans, the plebeian generals of France, and 
their undisciplined bands of sans culottes. 

The duke of York, also, despaired of gaining the expected 
laurels from the furious soldiers of the republic, and, on the 
sixth of December, embarked for England ; leaving the remains 
of his army under the command of general Dundas. 

The repubhcan armies in the south, were not less active than 
their compatriots in the north, and were equally successful. 
In the beginning of February, a battle was fought near St. Jean 
de Luz ; in which, the Spaniards were defeated : three of their 
regiments were taken prisoners, or dispersed ; and the Irish 
regiment of Ultona, in the service of Spain, infuriated by the 
priests, who preached, in the ranks, against the French, main- 
tained a conflict, so desperate, that every man was cut to pieces. 
In April, the Spaniards were compelled to evacuate Boulon ; 
the city of Urgel soon afterwards surrendered, to general Da- 
gobert ; two-thousand prisoners, with two-hundred pieces of 
cannon, were taken, at Ceret ; Port Vendries capitulated, to 
Dugomier ; and, in Italy, the arms of the republic were equally 
triumphant, under Dumas and Bagdelune. 

But, in Corsica, the intrigues of England had obtained a de- 
gree of success, which served to dissipate the recollection of 
her disgrace at Toulon. After admiral Hood had left the latter 
place, he cruised, for some time, in Hievres Bay ; and, having 
detached a small squadron to Corsica, repaired thither himself^ 
in the niiddle of February, and found the island in a general 
state of revolt. The garrison of Montella surrendered to him, 
on the tenth ; Bastia, made a gallant defence, until the nine- 
teenth of May ; when it obtained honourable terms of capitu- 
lation, and the whole island surrendered to the admiral, and 
was united to the British crown. 

Though, on land, the forces of the republic had been so bril- 
liantly triumphant, they were almost invariably defeated on the 



NAPOLEON. 35 

ocean. On land, mere physical strength, when combined with 
enthusiasm, will often be sufficient, like an overwhelming tor- 
rent, to bear down every opposition, and gain the victory, from 
the most experienced troops. On the ocean, and especially 
when combating with a numerous fleet, the requisites to ensure 
success, are very different. On this element, did every man, 
of any particular nation, possess the strength of an Ajax, and 
the courage of a Hector, yet, without the skill and discipline 
peculiar to the navy, and officers long practised in the manage- 
ment of a single ship, and the manoeuvring of a numerous fleet, 
the side on which he combats, will, assuredly, be overcome. 
Thus, was it, at the era we are now commencing, with the 
navy of France. The nobles, to whom commissions in the 
navy, had, under the royal government, been almost exclusively 
intrusted, had been displaced, by republican officers ; equally 
brave, indeed, but much less acquainted with naval tactics, and 
little inclined to continue that severity of discipline, so requisite 
to ensure the efficiency of a ship of war, but so little consonant 
with the prevailing ideas of licentious freedom, and with the 
relaxed system of military subordination, then existing in the 
army. The naval officers of France wanted competent know- 
ledge and experience, their men wanted due obedience ; and 
their fleets experienced the inevitable result — disaster and 
defeat. 

At first, the convention had endeavoured to oppose the Eng- 
lish, at sea, by detaching small squadrons, and single vessels, 
of a light construction, to annoy their commerce, and had met 
with very great success. In the month of May, alone, they had 
taken more than a hundred British merchant-vessels, and a 
packet-ship, laden with an immense sum, in dollars ; while the 
English had captured, in the same time, only one frigate of 
thirty-eight guns. This system of naval operations, was best 
suited to the existing condition of the French marine, and the 
most destructive to the enemy, that could, under any circum- 
stances, have been adopted : but a scarcity of provisions com- 
pelled the convention to equip a fleet, in order to protect a 
large convoy, which was to sail, at a fixed period, from the 
United States of America, laden with the much wanted sup- 
plies. 

The English ministers had obtained the most minute infor- 
mation, concerning this fleet, and the expected convoy ; and 
admiral lord Howe, with twenty-five sail of the line, proceeded 
to sea, early in the month of May, to give battle to the one, 
and intercept the other. 



36 THE LIFE OF 

The French fleet, consisting of twenty-six sail, was com- 
manded by M. Villaret ; a young officer, lately elevated from 
the rank of lieutenant, and the command of a single frigate, to 
the post of rear-admiral, and the command of a numerous fleet. 

On the first of June, the French fleet was overtaken, by lord 
Howe. Both fleets immediately prepared for action : the en- 
gagement continued, with unremitting fury, from nine in the 
morning, until three in the afternoon ; when six ships of the 
line were captured, by the English fleet, and one, of the same 
class, sunk ; but the victors were themselves so much crippled, 
in their rigging, as to be unable to pursue the vanquished. 

In the six ships that were taken, six-hundred-and-ninety men 
were killed, and five-hundred-and-eighty wounded. In the six 
English ships that suflfered most, one-hundred-and-twenty-five 
were killed, and three-hundred-and-thirty-five wounded. 

Never was more bravery shown, in any action, than was dis- 
played, by both nations, on the first of June ; and the skill of 
admiral Villaret, in manoeuvring his fleet, drew forth the ap- 
plause even of his enemy. The heroism displayed on board 
the French ship. La Revolutionaire, was most conspicuous. 
After her lower deck guns were under water, and destruction 
inevitable, she continued to fire her upper tier; and, at the 
moment the ship went to the bottom, the air resounded with 
the cry of" Vive la Republique! Vive la Liberie, et la France!''^ 

Though defeated in this celebrated action, the blood of the 
republicans was not unprofitably shed. By engaging the British 
fleet, the convoy from the United States, consisting of one-hun- 
dred-and-sixty vessels, laden with the necessaries of life, was 
saved from capture, and arrived, in the port of L'Orient, a few 
days after the battle ; having passed through the wreck of masts 
and rigging, caused by the tremendous conflict. 

After the fall of Robespierre, moderation, with little excep- 
tion, characterized the measures of the convention : the sur- 
viving members of the Gironde party, were allowed to resume 
their seats ; and this happy change, from the previous decrees 
of sanguinary prosecution, gradually promoted the respect of 
foreign nations. On the fifteenth of August, James Monroe, 
ambassador from the United States of America, was introduced, 
to the legislative body; in the ensuing month, citizen Reybuz 
was received, in the same character, from the repubhc of 
Geneva; and, some months afterwards, the baron de Stael 
(subsequently the husband of the daughter of M. Necker) pre- 
sented his diplomatic credentials, as ambassador fi-om the king 
of Sweden. 



NAPOLEON. 37 

The invention and use of the balloon, have been already no- 
ticed. The telegraph, also the invention of a citizen of France, 
was, soon afterwards, used, with equal effect : the intelligence 
of the capture of Quesnoy, the first instance in which this ma- 
chine was brought into practical operation, having been con- 
veyed, to Paris, in one hour after it had been entered by the 
French. 

.„Q_ After the surrender of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and 
' the Hague, the stadtholder saved himself from cap- 
ture, by a precipitate flight. Accompanied by his eldest son. 
he embarked, at Scheveling, on the nineteenth of January, in 
an open boat, rowed by only three men ; and, on the following 
day, reached England. Nor did the remains of the British 
army, continue long in Holland, after his departure. The 
gallant defence made by them, at the isle of Bommel, did not 
prevent the army of Pichegru, greatly superior in numbers, 
from taking possession of that important place; and they were 
accordingly forced to commence a retreat ; during which, un- 
til their arrival at Bremen, where they embarked for England, 
their sufferings exceeded almost any thing to be found in the 
annals of disastrous war. 

The Dutch provinces, under the name of Batavia, were now 
declared independent, by the French ; but the new republic 
could be viewed in no other character, than that of a vassal of 
its conquerors; and the inhabitants were compelled to pay, to 
their victors, the expense incurred in their subjugation. 

The number of conquests made, up to this period, by the 
armies of France, is amazing. By a detail, presented to the 
convention, by Carnot, in the capacity of minister of war, and 
major-general of the forces, by whose genius their victories 
were organized, it appears, that, in the period of only seven- 
teen months, besides the seven united provinces of Holland, 
and the nine provinces forming the Austrian Netherlands, there 
had yielded, to the republican forces, two principalities, two 
bishoprics, three dutchies, five electorates, and also the greater 
part of the rich Spanish provinces of Biscay and Catalonia. 
The victories, including eight pitched battles, were twenty- 
seven ; actions of less note, one-hundred-and-twenty ; eighty- 
four-thousand of the enemy were killed, and ninety-one-thousand 
made prisoners; the strong places and cities taken, numbered 
one-hundred-and-sixteen ; forts and redoubts two-hundred-and- 
thirty ; standards sixty, cannon three-thousand-eight-hundred, 
muskets seventy-thousand. 

Defeat, however, still continued to pursue the flag of the 

D 



58 THE LIFE OF 

republic, on the ocean. On the thirteenth of March, off Genoa, 
the French admiral, Martin, with fifteen ships of the line, sur- 
rendered two of their number, to the British admiral, Hotham, 
commanding fourteen vessels, of the same class ; and, on the 
twenty-third of June, a French fleet, consisting of twelve ships 
of the line, and nine frigates, were encountered, off L' Orient, 
by lord Bridport, having fourteen of the former, and eight of 
the latter description of vessels, and defeated, with the loss of 
three ships of the larger class. 

For these naval disasters, and the preceding capture of the 
islands of Martinico, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe, the republic 
received some consolation, from her subsequent good fortune, 
near home. After the reduction, by general Moncey, of Font- 
arabia, which opens an easy passage into Spain, and also of 
the strong fortress of St. Sebastian, the inhabitants of Madrid 
trembling for its safety, the Spanish monarch entered into a 
negotiation, with the French commissioners, at Basle ; which, 
on the twenty-second of July, terminated in a treaty of peace, 
and an acknowledgment of the French republic. France re- 
linquished to Spain all the conquests made by her, in that 
kingdom ; in consideration of which, the latter ceded, to the 
republic, all the Spanish portion of the island of St. Domingo. 

This act of pacification was followed by a treaty, at the same 
place, with the king of Prussia ; and also with the prince of 
Hesse-Cassel, the elector of Saxony, and the king of England, 
as elector of Hanover; the latter of whom still refused, in his 
regal character, to acknowledge the government of the republic. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DIRECTOEIAL GOVERNMENT. 



The billows, raised by the tempest of the revolution, had 
not yet wholly subsided. The breath of busy faction, or of 
popular discontent, easily renewed the agitation, and raised 
them again to an alarming height. On the first of April, the 
sanctuary of the convention was invaded, by a savage multi- 
tude, Avith the cry of" Bread, and the constitution of '93 ;" but 
the insurgents were dispersed, by the promptness and resolu- 
tion of general Pichegru ; and, on the twentieth of May, 
another insurrection was quelled, by general Hoche. Six 



NAPOLEON. 39 

members of the Mountain, were, for their concern in the latter 
outrage, condemned to suffer death : they all stabbed them- 
selves, with one knife, which they passed to each other, ex- 
claiming, " Vive la repuhllque;^'' three succeeded in despatcli- 
ing themselves ; the three others, in a dying state, were con- 
ducted to the scaffold. 

The substitution of a mild administration of justice, for the 
reign of terror, instead of attaching the royalists to the exist- 
ing government, served only to encourage them in the hopes 
of overthrowing it. The Vendeans were exhausted, by their 
numerous defeats, but not finally reduced. Their losses, how- 
ever, and the disagreement of their leaders, rendered them but 
feeble enemies ; and they even agreed to sign articles of pacifi- 
cation, with the convention. The marquis of Puissaye, an 
enterprising, but fickle man, formed a plan of substituting an 
insurrection in Brittany, for the almost extinguished war of 
La Vendee. He therefore applied to the English government, 
and induced the ministers to believe, that, if a small army, well 
supplied with ammunition and muskets, were landed, a general 
rising would be excited, in the latter province; and thence 
would probably spread over the rest of France. In consequence 
of this representation, they prepared an expedition, which was 
joined by the most enterprising emigrants, almost all the offi- 
cers of the old marine, and all those, who, weary of exile and 
an unsettled life, were desirous of trying their fortune, for the 
last time. Fifteen-hundred emigrants, and six-thousand re- 
publican prisoners, who had enlisted themselves in this expe- 
dition, that they might return to France, were landed, from an 
English fleet, upon the peninsula of Quiberon ; together. with 
sixty-thousand muskets, and a complete equipment for forty- 
thousand men. But the enterprise was signally disastrous. 
They were soon afterwards attacked, by general Hoche, who 
succeeded in repulsing them ; the enrolled prisoners deserted ; 
and, after a most spirited resistance, the emigrants were forced 
to yield. 

Thus disappointed, the royalists next endeavoured to ac- 
complish their object, by the aid of the discontented sections 
of Paris. Their present design was to effect a counter-revolu- 
tion, through the medium of the new constitution, although it 
was the production of the moderate republican party ; but, as 
it re-established the influence of the middle orders, they expect- 
ed to gain an easy admission into the legislative assembly, and 
the government. This constitution, formed since the prostra- 
tion of the terrorists, was the best and wisest, the soundest and 



40 THE LIFE OF 

most liberal form of republican government, that had ever been 
projected, in any country, except that of the United States. 
The legislative power was lodged in two councils, called the 
Council of Five Hundred, and the Council of Elders, the latter 
consisting of two-hundred-and-fifty members. The directorial 
or executive power consisted of five. Moderate qualifications, 
as to the property required to be possessed by the electors, 
were introduced, which again gave pohtical importance to the 
middle order ; whose influence it was highly necessary to re- 
estabhsh, after the licentious reign of the multitude, and the 
abandonment of the constitution of '93. 

The Council of Five Hundred, the members of which were 
required to be thirty years of age, had the sole right of pro- 
posing laws ; the Council of Elders, composed of members 
who had completed their fortieth year, the power of adopting 
or rejecting them. Every two years, one-half of the members 
were to vacate their seats, in order to avoid the evil of filling 
them entirely with new members ; who, inexperienced in the 
details of their office, and, animated with a zeal for novelty, 
would serve rather to perplex, than aid in the important busi- 
ness of legislation. 

The five members of the Directory, w^ere to be selected by 
the Council of Elders, from a list, made by the Council of Five 
Hundred. They were to exercise the office of president, each 
in succession, for the space of three months; and one of their 
number, was, every year, to vacate his seat, and another to be 
elected, in his place. To these executive officers, were as- 
signed a guard, a national palace (the Luxembourg) for their 
residence, and a species of civil list, for their support. 

To avoid the error, into which the constituent assembly had 
fallen, by excluding itself from the immediately succeeding 
legislative assembly, the convention passed a decree, (after- 
wards ratified by the greater number of the primary assembhes, 
throughout France) that two-thirds of its members might be 
re-elected. By this means, it secured a majority, in the coun- 
cils and the nomination of the directory, and was enabled to 
act as a pilot to its own constitution, and to consolidate it, 
without any violent commotion. 

This precaution was a surprise upon the royahsts. They 
had hoped to gain admission into the Councils, by means of 
the elections ; and, when thus in the possession of power, to 
effect a change in the system of government. An alhance was 
formed, between the royal committee, at Paris, the journals, 
the leaders of the sections, and the national guards. The 



NAPOLEON. 41 

usual preparations were made, for a great commotion. The 
emigrants flocked to the capital, in crowds ; and the conspira- 
tors, scarcely thinking it necessary to disguise their schemes, 
adopted a uniform, by which they might be distinguished. 

Perceiving the storm to be gathering, the convention sought 
assistance and support from the army. The military force was 
placed under the direction of Barras ; and, at his request, 
general Buonaparte, with whom he had become acquainted at 
the siege of Toulon, was appointed his second in command. 
The latter sent, in haste, for the artillery of the camp of Sab- 
Ions ; which, with five-thousand men of the conventional army, 
he disposed at all those points where he apprehended an as- 
sault. On the fifth of October, about noon, the insurjjents 
made an attack upon the convention, with forty-thousand men. 
A dreadful engagement ensued, with both musketry and can- 
non : the contest was maintained, with great spirit, until seven 
at night, when the troops of the convention, under the com- 
mand of the young general, were every where victorious, and 
the next day the insurgents were disarmed, and reduced to 
submission. 

The convention were not forgetful of their brave protectors. 
Berruyer and other general officers, employed in quelling this 
formidable insurrection, were loaded with praises and prefer- 
ment. But a more distinguished honour was conferred upon 
general Buonaparte, as the. leading actor of the day. Shortly 
after the engagement, Barras obtained the appointment of the 
young officer as second in command of the army of the inte- 
rior ; he himself still remaining commander-in-chief; and, soon 
afterwards, Barras having found his duties, as director, incom- 
patible with military command, the new general was appointed 
his successor. 

As the dearth of bread, and other causes of disaffection, 
continued to produce commotions in Paris, the general was 
sometimes obliged to oppose them with the military force. 
On one occasion, when earnestly admonishing the multitude to 
disperse, a very bulky woman exhorted them to keep their 
ground. — " Never mind these coxcombs, with the epaulettes," 
she said ; " they do not care if we are all starved, so that they 
themselves feed and get fat." — " Look at me, good woman," 
said Buonaparte, who was then as thin as a shadow, *" and tell 
me which is the fatter of the two;" a repartee, which turned 
the laugh against the Amazon, and the mob dispersed, in good 
humour. 

D2 



42 THE LIFE OF 

The convention now proceeded to fill up the councils and 
the directory. The members chosen, for the latter, were 
Lareveillere Lepaux, Sieyes, Rewbell, Letourneur, and Bar- 
ras ; but, on Sieyes declining to accept the office, the vacancy 
was supplied by Carnot. 

On the twenty-sixth of October, (fourth Brumaire) the con- 
vention passed an act of oblivion, as a commencement of the 
government of the law, and declared its session at an end. It 
had sat three years ; during which long and frightful period, 
the violence of the different factions, converted the revolution 
into a civil war, and the house of assembly into a field of battle. 

The wisdom and enlarged views of the new executive, were 
displayed in the formation of central schools, for the superior 
branches of education, in each department; and also in the 
founding of the National Institute; an estabhshment which re- 
vived and included all the former celebrated academies of polite 
literature and science. Amongst the members, were found the 
name of Volney, author of the Ruins of Empires; Raynal, the 
historian ; the astronomer. La Place ; Bertholet and Fourcroy, 
the distinguished chemists ; Marmontel, the celebrated dra- 
matic writer, and author of the Contes Moraux, or Moral 
Tales — a work which has been translated into every European 
language ; — also, the abbe de St. Pierre, to whom juvenile 
readers are indebted for the affecting story of Paul and Vir- 
ginia, and other interesting tales. 

Having reached this ameliorated stage of the revolution, it 
becomes our painful duty, again to conduct the reader to the 
scene of war. The armies of the repubhc, were not inactive. 
Not satisfied with having driven their enemies from the adja- 
cent territories of the United Provinces and the Netherlands, 
they continued to roll back the ebbing tide of unwarrantable 
invasion, to so great a distance from the soil of France, that 
there would be little danger of its return. Jourdan, Pichegru, 
and Moreau, opened the campaign, on the Rhine, with their 
accustomed energy and success. The important fortress of 
Luxembourg, surrendered, by capitulation, on the seventh of 
June. The possession of this place, the garrison of which con- 
sisted of ten-thousand men, commanded by the celebrated mar- 
shal Bender, gave the French a control over the wjiole left 
bank of the Rhine, except Mentz; which had been blockaded 
some months, but was still maintained against them, by the 
Austrians. Jourdan commenced his operations, by taking 
Dusseldorf; the surrender of which, left the passage of the 



NAPOLEON. 43 

river entirely at his command ; tlie enemy retreated, Jourdan 
pursued his success, attacked them on the Lhan, crossed the 
Mein, and completed the investment of Mentz. 

So far, the republican generals had been victorious. The 
capital of Germany seemed almost within their grasp, and their 
labours at an end. The Austrians were retiring before them, 
wearied and dejected ; when, from a misunderstanding between 
Pichegru and Jourdan, and a consequent failure in giving the 
latter general the required support, a sudden change was 
wrought, in favour of the beaten army, which totally altered 
the aspect of the campaign. After various skirmishes, Jourdan 
effected a most able retreat, to Dusseldorf, where he had origin- 
ally passed the Rhine ; but, the garrison of Mentz, having been 
strongly reinforced, two Austrian divisions crossed the river, 
at different points, attacked the remainder of the French in- 
trenched before that place, drove them, after an obstinate 
resistance, from all their posts, took their artillery, and de- 
stroyed their works. The palatinate now became the theatre 
of war. All that part of the country, lying within a hne drawn 
from the Rhine, between Landau and Deuxponts, and thence 
to the country along the Moselle, as far as Treves, was occu- 
pied by the Austrians ; and the campaign was concluded, by 
the hostile generals, by a suspension of arms, for three months; 
which was afterwards ratified by their respective governments. 
Desirous of giving repose to France, the directory conceived 
this an opportune conjuncture, for the re-estabUshment of 
peace. An overture was accordingly made, to Austria ; but 
that power would not negotiate alone ; and England would 
not listen to any proposition, in which was not included the 
abandonment of Belgium, by the French. 

Some reverses, experienced, by England, in the West Indies, 
were counterbalanced by an acquisition of no ordinary impor- 
tance. On the sixteenth of September, the Dutch colony of 
the Cape of Good Hope, the key of oriental navigation, was 
captured, by general Craig and admiral sir George Keith El- 
phinstone ; its governor having rejected a proposition, that it 
should be assigned to the protection of Great Britain. 



44 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER V. 

CONaXJEST OF ITALY, BY BUONAPARTE PEACE OF 

CAMPO-FORMIO. 

^^qn The campaign opened in the beginning of April 
1 <yD. rpi^^ conquest of Italy was the great object now sought 
to be attained ; a stupendous project, designed to weaken the 
efforts of the Austrians on the Rhine, by drawing, from that 
quarter, a portion of their troops ; and also to intimidate, or 
annihilate and dethrone the pope ; who was charged with hav- 
ing fomented the war in La Vendee, and caused the general 
disaffection of the catholics, in the south of France. The exe- 
cution of this conquest was intrusted to general Buonaparte. 
This command, which led to his future grandeur, and rendered 
this celebrated warrior henceforth the hero of the revolution, 
was conferred upon him, though he had not yet completed his 
twenty-sixth year, through the influence exercised over Barras, 
by Josephine, the widow of general Beauharnois, a lady of 
great beauty and accomplishments ; whom the young soldier 
had married on the ninth of March ; a few days previous to 
his leaving the capital, to place himself at the head of the Italian 
army. 

The forces assigned to the command of Buonaparte, were 
about thirty-thousand men. Augereau and Massena ; Ser- 
rurier, Joubert, and Lasnes ; Murat, Berthier, and Andreossi ; 
all generals of high reputation, accompanied him, in this cam- 
paign. The Austro-Sardinian army, which Buonaparte was 
about to encounter, was much superior in numbers, and com- 
manded by Beaulieu ; an Austrian general of great experience, 
but not less than seventy-five years old ; accustomed, all his 
life, to the ancient tactics, and unlikely to suspect, anticipate, 
or frustrate, the plans formed by the fertile genius of his young 
opponent. 

Buonaparte's plan for entering Italy, differed from that of 
Hannibal, and other invaders, who had approached that coun- 
try, by penetrating or surmounting her Alpine barriers. He 
resolved to attain the same object, by turning round the south- 
ern extremity of those cloud-capped mountains, by the lowest 
level that the surface of the country presented; keeping as close 
as possible to the Mediterranean, and passing through the 
Genoese territory, by the narrow pass, called the Boccheta? 



NAPOLEON. 45 

leading around the extremity of the mountains, and between 
the latter and the sea. 

But, in the passage of the Alps, there was more than rugged 
nature to oppose. The bristly bayonets and thundering cannon 
were ready to destroy the invaders, while struggling amongst 
the rocks. The Austrian and Sardinian armies had apparently 
taken the most effectual measures to arrest the progress of the 
adventurous legions. The first action occurred at Monte- 
Notte ; where the enemy were beaten, by a division commanded 
by Massena ; with the loss of three-thousand men : the defiles 
of Milesimo were next forced, by Augereau ; who reduced the 
Austrian army eight-thousand men, and compelled general 
Provera, with his garrison, to surrender prisoners of war. The 
check suffered, by the French, at Dego, was only of short du- 
ration. The victorious army descended, like a torrent, into the 
fertile plains of Italy ; forced the Sardinian general, on the 
twenty-third of April, to ask for a suspension of arms ; and, in 
the following month, his sovereign, Victor Amadeus, (father- 
in-law of the two brothers of the late king of France) concluded 
a humiliating treaty, at Paris. 

Thus, within the short period of a month, the French com* 
mander had surmounted the tremendous passes of the Alps j 
gained three battles, over forces far superior to his own ; in- 
flicted, on the enemy, a loss of twenty-five-thousand men, in 
killed, wounded, and prisoners; taken eighty pieces of cannon 
and twenty-one stand of colours; reduced to inaction the Aus- 
trian army ; almost destroyed that of Sardinia ; and now stood 
in full communication with France, on the eastern side of the 
mountains, with Italy lying before him, as if to invite his inva- 
sion. 

The ardent disposition of Buonaparte, did not permit him to 
rest long, after the advantages he had secured. On the seventh 
of May, having deceived the Austrian commander, by the in- 
genuity and rapidity of his movements, he crossed the Po, with 
his'whole army, at Placentia, without the loss of a single man, 
and repulsed the enemy from Fombio and Codogno ; having 
to lament the fall, at the latter place, of the gallant general 
Laharpe. The manner in which this favourite officer met his 
death, was particularly affecting. Hearing the alarm given by 
the outposts, Laharpe rode out, to ascertain the character and 
strength of the attacking party; and, on his return, to his own 
troops, they mistook him and his attendants for the enemy, 
fired upon him, and killed him. 

The dukes of Parma and Modena, upon whose territories 



46 THE LIFE OF 

the French had entered, were compelled, like the king of Sar- 
dinia, to request a suspension of arms. This was granted, on 
condition of their paying ten-millions of livres; of contributing, 
to the national museum of France, a certain number of the 
most celebrated paintings ; and finally sending ambassadors, to 
Paris, to sue for peace. 

The duke of Modena (who was married to a sister of the 
unfortunate Maria Antoinette) must have severely felt the pay- 
ment of this heavy contribution. His business was hoarding 
money ; and his pleasure consisted in naihng up, with his own 
hands, the tapestry which ornamented churches, on high holi- 
days ; from which employment, he obtained the degrading title 
of the royal upholsterer. 

In a despatch, to the directory, Buonaparte says, " I will 
send you, as soon as possible, the finest pictures of Corregio ; 
amongst others, a St. Jerome, which is said to be his master- 
piece. I must own, that the saint takes an unlucky time to 
visit Paris ; but I hope you will grant him the honours of the 
museum." 

So highly was this picture valued, by the duke of Modena, 
that he offered the conqueror, for its redemption, two-millions 
of livres ; a sum equal to three-hundred-and-sixty-thousand, 
dollars. 

The Austrians, defeated at Fombio, effected their retreat to 
Lodi, where Beaulieu had concentrated his forces. This is a 
large town, containing about twelve-thousand inhabitants. It 
has old Gothic walls, but its principal defence consists in the 
river Adda, which flows through it, and is crossed by a wooden 
bridge, about five-hundred feet in length. The bridge was 
defended by thirty pieces of artillery, and the imperial troops 
were drawn up, in line of battle, to prevent the passage. On 
the tenth of May, a severe cannonade took place, for some 
hours ; but the show of resistance appeared so formidable, on 
the part of the Austrians, that the French generals were, for 
some time, undecided, as to the manner of attack. The ma- 
jority were of opinion, that the passage should be attempted at 
some distance both above and below the town. Buonaparte, 
however, full of confidence in his army, gave orders that the 
attack should be made by the bridge. Before break of day, 
on the eleventh, the army prepared for the enterprise; and two 
battahons passed the bridge, half-way, before they were per- 
ceived. A general discharge from the Austrians, destroyed 
nearly seven-hundred men ; the advanced body of the French 
column was struck with a sudden panic, and stopped short : 



Napoleon. 41 

but, animated by the cries of Vive la republique ! from their 
generals, who advanced, at their head, they soon ralhed. The 
resistance was terrible, and the republicans were several times 
shaken, notwithstanding their generals carried the tricoloured 
flag in front, and called upon them to follow. It was in a 
critical moment, when all these incentives had failed in produc- 
ing the desired effect, that Buonaparte seized a standard, and, 
rushing to the head of the column, by his voice, gesture, and 
example, animated them to the highest enthusiasm. They 
dashed forward, with impetuosity, seized the Austrian artillery, 
broke through the lines, and threw the enemy into so great 
consternation, that they fled, in the utmost disorder. The vic- 
tory was at once splendid and decisive. Buonaparte despatch- 
ed one division in pursuit of the fugitives ; while. With another, 
he entered Milan, which surrendered, without resistance, on 
the eighteenth of May ; and all Lombardy became subject ta 
the victors, by this single battle. 

It was at this time, that Buonaparte had some conversation 
with an old Hungarian officer, made prisoner, in one of the 
actions, whom he met in the bivouac, one evening, by chance. 
The veteran's language was a curious commentary upon the 
whole campaign, and even upon Buonaparte's system of war- 
fare ; which appeared most extraordinary, to the soldiers of 
the old school. — " Things are going on as ill and as irregularly 
as possible," said the old martinet. " The French have got a 
young general, who knows nothing of the regular rules of war: 
he is sometimes on our front, sometimes on the flank, some- 
times on the rear : — there is no tolerating such a gross viola- 
tion of rules." 

Every thing relating to this extraordinary man, is interesting. 
The French soldiers had a mode, at that time, of amusing 
themselves, by conferring an imaginary rank upon their gene- 
rals, when they had performed any remarkable exploit. They 
showed their sense of the bravery displayed, by Buonaparte, 
in the battle of Lodi-, by creating him a corporal ; and, by this 
title, of the Little Corporal, he was ever afterwards known, by 
the followers of his mihtary fortune. 

These several actions, in Italy, had nearly destroyed the 
Austrian army. Now routed and dispersed, a part of their 
number took refuge in Mantua, and the rest, pursued by the 
victors, fled into the barren defiles of the Tyrol. On the twenty- 
eighth of June, a French detachment took possession of Leg- 
horn, alleging that this city had shown favour to the British 
fleets : and, about the same time, the main army entered the 



48 THE LIFE OF 

territory of the pope, and took Bologna, Ferrara, and Urbino. 
The French had now gained complete command of the papal 
dominions ; and so much alarmed the king of Sicily and Na- 
ples, that he requested an armistice ; which was granted, un- 
der particular stipulations. 

The conditions imposed upon the Neapolitans, were, chiefly, 
that they should withdraw their troops from the coahtion, and 
their ships from the English squadron in the Mediterranean. 
Those to which the pope was compelled to accede, were more 
circumstantial and rigorous. Amongst other stipulations, he 
was required to renounce his connexion with the allied powers, 
and shut his ports against them ; to pay twenty-one-millions 
of livres, independent of the contributions to be levied upon the 
cities ; and to deliver a hundred pictures, busts, or statues, at 
the option of commissioners, to be sent to Rome, for their se- 
lection. 

The destruction of the army under Beaulieu, had excited the 
utmost consternation, at Vienna. It was determined, therefore, 
to risk the fate of the imperial arms, in Germany, by a rehance 
upon new levies; while the flower of the army of the Rhine, 
was detached to Italy, under Wurmser, a hoary veteran, now 
in his eightieth year ; who, though eminently brave, yet, trained 
as he had been, in the slow and formal tactics of the old mas- 
ters, was less likely, even than Beaulieu, five years younger 
than himself, to contend, successfully, against the rapid move- 
ments of the greatest military genius that had ever trodden the 
field of Mars. His first operations promised to realize the 
hopes of his imperial master. But the successes gained by 
him, over the French divisions, posted at Salo, Corono, and 
Brescia, which compelled them to raise the siege of Mantua, 
with the loss of a great quantity of artillery and stores, yielded 
no permanent advantage. Wherever Buonaparte appeared 
against him, in person, he was defeated. The able conduct 
of the French commander, soon retook all that had been lost. 
The Austrian leader was weakened, at Castiglione, by the 
death, wounds, or capture, of twenty-thousand men ; was de- 
feated at Primocalo, at Covolo, at Cismone, at Bassano ; and 
compelled to seek refuge in the city of Mantua, again block- 
aded, by the conquering general ; by whom three armies had 
been destroyed, in one campaign. 

An incident which occurred at this time, had nearly deprived 
the republican army of their leader. A French division had 
passed through Valegio, without halting, in pursuit of Beaulieu; 
by whom, the village had just been abandoned. Buonaparte, 



NAPOLEON. . 49 

>vith a small retinue, remained in the place ; and Massena's 
division was still on the right bank of the Mincio, preparing 
their dinner. At this moment, an advanced guard of the ene- 
my's hussars, pushed into the village. There was barely time 
to cry to arms, and, shutting the gates of the inn, to employ the 
general's slender escort, in its defence, while Buonaparte, 
escaping by the garden, mounted his horse, and galloped to- 
wards the division of Massena. 

After the battle of Cismone, the French halted, at that vil- 
lage, exhausted with fatigue ; and no sentinel in his army en- 
dured more privations, there, than Buonaparte himself; who 
took up his quarters, for the night, without either ^taff-officers 
or baggage ; and, like the American general, Greene, after 
the hard contested battle of Guilford, was glad to accept a 
share of a private soldier's ration of bread ; of which incident, 
the poor fellow lived to remind his general, after he had placed 
upon his head the imperial crown. 

The victories, of which we have given only a hasty and im- 
perfect sketch, operated an extensive injury to the British. arms, 
in the Mediterranean, especially in the island of Corsica ; 
which, on the fifth of October, was evacuated, by the English. 

Meanwhile, the armistice granted to the pope, had expired, 
as no definitive treaty had been signed. The inhabitants of the 
countries south of the Po, had, therefore, under the protection 
of the French commander, laid the foundation of a new repub- 
lic, by a congress of deputies, from the cities of Bologna, Reg- 
gie, Modena, and Ferrara ; a measure adopted also by the 
people of Milan, and the surrounding districts ; who formed 
another republic ; assuming the respective titles of Transpa- 
dane and Cispadane, from their situation in relation to the riv- 
ers Po and Rhone ; the centre of the former, being Milan. 
Both, hov/ever, were subsequently modified into one republic, 
under the name of the Cisalpine, in relation to its situation with 
regard to the Alps and Rome. 

The fourth Austrian army, under field-marshal Alvinzi, had 
now entered Italy, in order to release general Wurmser, still 
shut up within the walls of Mantua. But, though an accom- 
plished soldier, Alvinzi was not more fortunate than his prede- 
cessors. Like them, he had to encounter the master spirit of 
the sword, and like them he was defeated. The ambition of 
Alexander, the acuteness and resolution of Hannibal, the ra- 
pidity of Africanus, the skill and bravery of Caesar, were all 
arrayed against him. The battles of Areola and Rivoli, were 
so fatal to Alvinzi, that he was constrained to retire beyond 

E 



bO THE LIFE OF 

the Brenta, to await the arrival of another army, and leave 
Mantua once more open to the assaults of his victorious enemy. 

The victory of Areola, gained after a contest of three days, 
fiTom the sixteenth to the eighteenth of November, is one of 
the proudest achievements in the escutcheon of the French 
commander. The enemy's fire was most tremendous. To 
animate his soldiers to a final exertion, Buonaparte caught a 
stand of colours, as at Lodi, rushed upon the bridge, and plant- 
ed them there, Avith his own hand. A fresh body of Austrians 
arrived, at that moment, and the fire, on his flank, blazed more 
destructively than ever. The rear of the French column, fell 
back; the leading files, seeing themselves unsupported, gave 
way ; but, still careful of their general, bore him from the 
scene of peril, in their arms, through the dead and dying, the 
fire and the smoke. In the confusion, he was, at length, pushed 
into the marsh. The Austrians were already between him and 
his own troops ; and he must have perished, or been taken 
prisoner, had not the grenadiers perceived his danger. The 
cry instantly arose, — "Forward — forward — save the general!" 
Their love of Buonaparte's person, effected more, than had 
been accomplished by his commands and his example. They 
renewed the attack, and succours, at that moment, joining 
those devoted heroes, they drove the Austrians from Areola. 

The battle of Rivoli, in which the horse on which Buona- 
parte rode, was repeatedly wounded, was one of the most des- 
perate that this great mihtary captain ever won. 

After the battle of Areola, he v/as particularly desirous to 
secure the elevated and commanding position of Rivoli, before 
the enemy had time to receive their cavalry and cannon ; 
as he hoped to bring on an engagement, before the several 
divisions of their army were united. By forced marches, he 
arrived at Rivoli at two in the morning of the fourteenth of 
January ; and, from that elevated situation, by the assistance 
of a clear moon-light, he discovered that the bivouac of the 
enemy was divided into five distinct and separate bodies ; from 
which, he inferred that their attack, the next day, would be 
made in the same number of columns. 

The distance at which the bivouacs were stationed from the 
position of Joubert, made it evident to the French commander, 
that they did not intend to make their attack before ten in the 
morning. Joubert was, at this time, in the act of evacuating 
the position which he occupied only with a rear-guard ; but 
Buonaparte ordered him instantly to countermarch, and resume 
possession of the important eminence of Rivoh. 



NAPOLEON. 51 

A few Croats had already advanced so near the French hne. 
as to discover that Joubert's light troops had evacuated the 
chapel of St. Marc ; of which, they took possession. It was, 
however, retaken by the French ; but the struggle to maintain 
it brought on a severe action ; first, with the regiment to which 
the detachment of Croats belonged, and afterwards with the 
whole Austrian column which lay nearest to that point, and 
was commanded by Ocskay. The latter was repulsed, but the 
column of Kobler pressed forward to support them ; and, hav- 
ing gained the summit, attacked two regiments of the French 
which were stationed there, each protected by a battery of 
cannon. Notwithstanding these advantages, one of the regi- 
ments gave way, and Buonaparte himself galloped to another 
part of the field, to bring up reinforcements. The nearest 
French were those of Massena's division, which, tired with the 
preceding night's march, had lain down, to rest. They started 
up, however, at the command of their general, and suddenly 
arriving on the field, in half an hour the column of Kobler was 
beaten and driven back. While the Austrians scaled, on one 
side, the hill on which the chapel is situated, three battalions 
of French infantry, who had been countermarched by Joubert, 
struggled up the steep ascent, on another point. The activity 
of the French brought them first to the summit ; and, having 
then the advantage of the ground, it was not difficult for them 
to force the advancing Austrians headlong down the hill which 
they were endeavouring to climb. Meantime, the French bat- 
teries thundered upon the broken columns of the enemy ; their 
cavalry made repeated charges ; and, the whole of the Austri- 
ans who had advanced, were irretrievably defeated ; while 
those who remained were in such a condition, that to attack 
would have been a futile expenditure of blood. 

An intelligent agent had been sent from Viennan to com- 
municate, if possible, with the commander of the Mantuan 
garrison. This messenger was intercepted, by the besiegers. 
It was in vain, that he swallowed his despatches, enclosed in a 
ball of wax : an emetic soon forced the stomach to render up 
its trust ; and the document, which the wax enclosed, was found 
to be an important letter, signed by the emperor himself. 

Scarcely had the French commander-in-chief, gained the de- 
cisive victory, at Rivoli, before his presence was required at a 
distance from the conquered field. On the very day of the 
battle, general Provera threw a bridge of pontoons over the 
Lower Adige, and proceeded rapidly to Mantua ; the relief of 
which fortress, he had, by stratagem, nearly achieved. A regi* 



52 THE LIFE OF 

ment of his cavalry, wearing white cloaks, and resembling, in 
that particular, the first regiment of French hussars, presented 
themselves before the suburb of St. George. The gates were 
about to be opened, without suspicion, when it occurred, to a 
sagacious old republican sergeant, who was then beyond the 
walls, that the cloaks of this regiment were fresher than those 
of the French corps, for whom they were mistaken. He com- 
municated his observation to a drummer, who was near him : 
they gained the suburb, and, having cried to arms, the guns 
of the circumvallation were opened upon the hostile cavalry, 
whom they had been on the point of admitting, in the disguise^ 
of friends. 

Mantua, the birth-place of the poet Virgil, is situated on an 
island, formed by three lakes, communicating with the Mincio 
and the Po. It is accessible from the main-land, by five cause- 
ways ; the most important of which was then defended by a 
regular citadel, called La Favorita. The garrison was nume- 
rous, amounting to more than twenty-thousand men ; and the 
place could not be taken by assault, by reason of its natural 
strength. Yet, of the five causeways, Buonaparte made him- 
self master of four ; and was thus enabled to blockade the city, 
with a body of men inferior in number to the garrison. 

The armistice concluded by the French and Austrian com- 
manders, on the Rhine, terminated on the thirty-first of May. 
The fidelity of Pichegru having been suspected, the command 
of the armies, in that quarter, was conferred upon Jourdan and 
Moreau. Jourdan, after gaining considerable advantages over 
his antagonists, advanced, in the beginning of June, into the 
very heart of the German empire. About the same time, Mo- 
reau passed the Rhine, at Strasbourg, took the fort of Khel, 
an important post on the right bank of the river, and penetrated, 
through Suabia and Bavaria, almost to Ratisbon, with a view 
of forming a junction with Jourdan. The attempt, however, 
did not succeed. Both armies were obliged to retreat, until 
they repassed the Rhine. The situation of Moreau, was ex- 
tremely critical; and the retreat of this celebrated general, 
through the mountainous and rocky defiles of the Black Forest, 
before the archduke Charles, the most active and fortunate of 
the Austrian commanders, (a brother of the emperor of Ger- 
many,) has ever since been regarded as one of the most mas- 
terly exhibitions of military skill, that occurred during the 
revolutionary war. 

The return of the French armies, to the Rhine, was suc- 
ceeded by the resignation, of Jourdan; and the northern cam- 



NAPOLEON. 53 

paign terminated, in December, by the surrender of Khel, to 
the archduke Charles. 

Treaties of pacification had now been concluded, with nearly 
all the states that had entered into the war against France. 
An overture was, in December, made, to the republic, by Great 
Britain ; but, the ambassador of that country, lord Malmsbury,. 
not appearing to be vested with the requisite powers for ne- 
gotiating ; and the directory suspecting that the proposal was 
not made with a sincere desire of obtaining peace, but only to 
enable the English ministers to borrow, on more advantageous 
terms, the money required to continue the war; lord Malms- 
bury was ordered to leave Paris, in eight-and-forty hours ; and 
accordingly departed, in the time prescribed. 

A rebellion being, at this time, on the eve of bursting forth, 
in Ireland, the directory, in conformity with an understanding, 
entered into with a deputation from the revolutionary leaders, 
in that island, prepared a formidable expedition, for the pur- 
pose of acting in concert with the disaffected. Three-fourths 
of the people of Ireland — all the Roman Catholics, nearly the 
whole of the Presbyterians, and a great number of the members 
of the church of England — were desirous of separating from 
Great Britain, and forming a republic. Haifa milHon of Irish- 
men were ready to rise in arms. The government of France 
would wiUingly have sent over a force, sufficient, of itself, with- 
out the aid of the Irish patriots, to annihilate, in that island, 
the British power ; but the deputies rejected this insidious offer, 
and refused to accept of a greater number of troops, than 
would serve merely to inspirit the undisciplined peasants, and 
enable the nation to conquer Ireland for themselves. They 
rightly judged, that, should they invite an overwhelming force, 
they would share the fate of Italy and Holland; and, instead 
of gaining independence, would only excha.ige the domination 
of England, for that of France. On the fifteenth of December,, 
admiral Villaret sailed, from Brest, with eighteen sail of the 
line, besides frigates and transports ; having on board fifteen- 
thousand troops, under the command of general Hoche. But 
the expedition was signally unfortunate. Scarcely had the ad- 
miral left the harbour, when a storm arose, which dispersed the 
fleet, and, separating the frigate which carried Hoche, com- 
pelled him to seek shelter at Rochelle. Of the whole fleet, 
only eight sail of the line reached the coast of Ireland, under 
admiral Bouvet ; who anchored in Bantry Bay ; but was forced 
from that station, by tempestuous weather, without having ef- 
fected a landing ; and three sail of the line, together with three 

E2 



64 THE LIFE OF' 

frigates, were destroyed, by the adverse elements, before the 
tleet regained the coast of France. 

A very different fortune continued to accompany the navy 
of Great Britain. The remaining commerce of France, had, 
during the course of this year, been ahnost annihilated, by the 
English cruisers. The proud mistress of the ocean, had not 
lost a ship, of any force; while, on the contrary, more than 
seventy sail of armed vessels had been taken, by her, from the 
French. 

The greater part of the Dutch colonies, both in the eastern 
and the western hemisphere, having been seized, by England, the 
Batavian Republic had, in consequence,, declared war against 
that country ; and, in the month of October, Spain, also, was 
induced, by France, to join the latter, in hostilities against the 
British crown. "^ 

Although every power in Europe had felt the force of the 
Gallic arms, or the diplomatic influence of the republic, Eng- 
land had hitherto, except in the increase of taxes, and the ac- 
cumulation of her national debt, suffered, comparatively, little 
inconvenience from the war.. At length, it was suggested, that 
the most effectual mode of opposing that country, with advan- 
tage, was, to attack her commerce, by excluding her manufac- 
tures from every port in Europe, subject to French influence 
or control. This new species of hostility, was carried into 
execution, with as much despatch, as the jarring interests of 
the continental powers, would allow ; and articles of British 
manufacture, soon found no legal entrance, into any port, on 
the continent, from the Elbe to the Adriatic sea, with the ex- 
ception only of those of the Hanse-Towns, and of Portugal. 

Towards the close of the present year, the confederation 
against France, was deprived of another of its members, in th^ 
person of Catherine II., of Russia; who, on the sixth day of 
November, in the sixty-eighth year of her age, was numbered 
amongst the dead. 

In the routine of belligerent events, it now becomes 
' necessary to recur to the siege of Mantua. When last 
we spoke of this great object of contention, it was blockaded 
by general Buonaparte ; to whom, notwithstanding the valour 
and resolution of its veteran commander, Wurmser, who had 
killed, to sustain his soldiers, the last horse within its walls, it 

* For an account of the insults, offered, at this period, by the Di- 
rectory, to the American ambassadors and government, and the con-- 
sequent capture of two French frigates, by Commodore Truxtun, th©; 
reader is referred to the author's History of the United States.. 



NAPOLEON. .^5 

surrendered, on the second of February, after a siege of six 
months, with a garrison of tweiit}'-tIjousand men ; the French 
having lost, in its reduction, fifteen thousand ^ and the Austrians, 
in its defence, twenty-four-thousand. 

The labours of the youthful general, in Italy, were now al- 
most concluded. He had far surpassed, in these achievements, 
the veni, vidi, vici, of Julius Caesar. All the warriors, both of 
ancient and modern times, were eclipsed. In the short period 
of less than ten months, Buonaparte had proved victorious in 
fourteen pitched battles, and fifty-six minor engagements ; had 
taken more than a hundred-thousand prisoners, five hundred 
field-pieces, and two-thousand cannon, of a larger size ; he had 
supported his army, by contributions levied upon the conquered 
countries, during the whole campaign ; and sent thirty millions 
of livres, to France, for the increase of the public treasure. 

Three Austrian commanders had been beaten, and five ar- 
mies destroyed, in Italy, in one campaign. A fourth com- 
mander, and a sixth army, were quickly sent, by the emperor, 
with the hope of stripping the wreath of laurel from the victor's 
brow. The recent and brilliant success of the archduke Charles, 
against the conqueror of Fleurus, had justly impressed all Ger- 
many with the most favourable opinion of his genius and valour ; 
and the court of Vienna already imagined, that this young hero 
was destined to restore their usual superiority to the imperial 
arms, in Lombardy. The archduke was nearly of the same 
age, as the French commander ; and both testified a similar 
passion for glory, and an equal contempt of danger. 

On his arrival in Italy, the Austrian commander stationed 
his army between the Tagliamento and the Piava ; while the 
French, who occupied the right bank of the latter river, and 
the left border of the Arisco, were prepared to oppose their 
progress. The superior genius, and good fortune of Buona- 
parte, again prevailed. Notwithstanding the skill and bravery 
of the archduke Charles, he was forced, after a series of san- 
guinary battles, to retire before his impetuous rival. The 
capture of Gradisca, rendered the French masters of all tho 
Austrian possessions, frG<m the Alps to the Adriatic sea; and 
they soon afterwards displayed their banners on the walls of 
Fiume and Trieste, the only sea-ports now appertaining to the 
emperor, in any part of his dominions. 

Results so unprecedented, could not have been effected, 
without some extraordinary cause. Buonaparte, to use the 
language of one of his biographers, " had infused into the ar- 
mies which he commanded, the firmest reliance on his genius^ 



66 THE LIFE OF 

and the greatest love for his person. He had even inspired 
his soldiers with a portion of his own intelligence. The maxim 
which he inculcated upon them, when practising one of those 
long and severe marches, was — ' I would rather gain victory 
at the expense of your legs, than at the price of your blood.' 
— In a letter to the directory, he says * were I to name all 
those who have been distinguished by acts of personal bravery 
I must send the muster-roll of my advanced guard. They jest 
with danger, and laugh at death; and, if any thing can equal 
their intrepidity, it is the gayety, with which, singing, alter- 
ternately, songs of love and patriotism, they accomphsh the 
most severe forced marches. When they arrive at their bi- 
vouac, it is not to take their repose, as might be expected, but 
to tell each his story of the battle of the day, and produce his 
plan for that of to-morrow ; and many of them think, with great 
correctness, on military subjects. The other day, I was in- 
specting a demi-brigade, and, as it filed past me, a common 
chasseur approached my horse, and said, ' General, yon ought 
to do so and so.' — ' Hold your peace, you rogue,' I replied. 
He disappeared, immediately, nor have I since been able to 
find him out. But the manoeuvre which he had recommended,, 
was the very same that I had privately resolved to carry inta 
execution.' " 

Yet, notwithstanding that Buonaparte had beaten the arch- 
duke in six different engagements, and destroyed one-half of 
his army, during a campaign of only twenty-one days, his situa- 
tion was critical and alarming. The natives of the mountain- 
ous districts, into which he had now entered, were attached, 
by habit, to the house of Austria : they were shielded, by their 
poverty, from the miseries of fiscal oppression ; and the oflfer 
of liberty, by which the inhabitants of the valleys had been so 
charmed, excited, in their contented bosoms, neither enthusiasm 
nor hope. The numerous defiles of these dreary regions; the 
diflSculties of obtaining supplies ; the danger of being surround- 
ed, like Moreau, or nearly cut oflf, like Jourdan ; — all these 
considerations operated, powerfully, upon the mind of Buona- 
parte ; and he found it necessary, for the preservation of his 
army, to relinquish the high-toned language of a victor, and 
affect the conciliating terms of moderation. He according- 
ly addressed a letter to his antagonist — still high in spirit, 
though depressed in fortune — in which, he desired to know,, 
whether he would accept overtures of peace. The answer 
was of a character very different from what the proposer had 
been accustomed to receive. The archduke replied, that " he 



NAPOLEON. 57 

was not intrusted with any power, on the part of his imperial 
majesty, to treat." The French general again put his army 
in motion. On the second of April, the advanced posts of the 
enemy were attacked, and, after a severe engagement, the 
archduke retired before the assailants ; resolved to make a 
last stand before the walls of the imperial city, for the preser- 
vation of his brother's throne. 

The alarm, at Vienna, was general, beginning with the court 
itself. The royal family resolved on flight. Amongst the 
fugitives of the imperial house, was the arch-dutchess, Maria 
Louisa, then about six years old ; whom, we may conceive 
agitated by every species of childish terror, by the approach of 
the all-conquering leader, with whom she was, at a future and 
similar crisis, destined to be united by the connubial tie, if not 
in the bands of love. 

Having now traversed the southern chain of the Alps, and 
arrived within thirty-five leagues of Vienna, Buonaparte threat- 
ened to cross the northern range, and plant the tricoloured 
standard on the walls of Vienna. But this humiliation of the 
house of Austria, was averted. Listening, at length, to the 
voice of his people, the emperor resolved to open a treaty of 
peace ;. and Buonaparte, who now learned that the Venetian 
senate was exciting an insurrection, in his rear ; that the in- 
habitants of the Tyrol had risen, against him, in a mass ; and 
that Moreau and Hoche had not yet passed the Rhine, for the 
purpose of coming to his assistance, readily complied with the 
invitation. A suspension of arms, for a few days, immediately 
followed ; and, on the eighteenth of April, preliminary articles 
of pacification were signed, near Leoben, which served as the 
foundation of a definitive treaty, concluded, at Campo-Formio, 
on the seventeenth of October. The emperor renounced, in 
favour of the French republic, all his right, and title to the 
Austrian Netherlands, and acknowledged the Cisalpine Re- 
public, as an independent power; and the storm of war, which 
had begun to rage in the month of May, '92, and had desolated 
continental Europe, for more than five successive years, sub- 
sided into a temporary calm. 

Having thus, to use his own phraseology, " conquered a con- 
tinental peace," Buonaparte returned to Paris, on the twenti- 
eth of November; where, he was received, by the government, 
with every mark of consideration ; and by the people, with th« 
most rapturous applause. 



58 THE LIFE OF 

CHAPTER VI. 

INVASION OP EGYPT — SIEGE OF ACRE, 

By the treaty of Campo-Formio, the continental ene-^ 
mies of the Republic^ lay prostrate at her feet. She had 
yet to contend with a belligerant, of more obstinate resolution, 
than any other state of Europe, and furnished with the means 
of distressing her, more amply than all the rest of the world 
combined. Great Britain still continued to wield the sword ; 
and, though baffled in her hostilities by land, growing daily 
more powerful, on her proper element— the sea. 

The frequent victories, however, of the British navy, had not 
deprived its antagonists of hope. Though they might esteem 
themselves much inferior to the English seamen, in point of 
science, they showed that they were little surpassed by them in 
natural courage. Having now at their disposal the navy of 
Spain, as well as of Holland,, the French republic proposed, to 
their confederates, that the greater part of the Spanish navy, 
should sail, in the early part of the present year, to Brest; 
where, being joined by the French ships of w^ar, in that port, 
they should afterwards form a junction With the fleet of Hol- 
land ; that this armada, now increased to more than seventy 
sail of the line, should bear down upon England ; and, having 
humbled the lofty pretensions of her naval power, lay the foun- 
dation of her future conquest. But the British ministry soon 
became informed of this design. To frustrate its execution, a 
fleet, under sir John Jervis, was appointed to blockade the 
port of Cadiz; while admiral Duncan was stationed ofl" the 
coast of Holland, to observe the movements of the Dutch fleet, 
in the Texel. Both these officers were successful, in their 
respective duties. On the fourteenth day of February, admiral 
Jervis, with fifteen sail of the line, carrying twelve-hundred-and- 
thirty-two guns, encountered the Spanish fleet, off" St. Vincent, 
consisting of twenty-seven sail, mounting two-thousand-three- 
hundred-and-eight guns, commanded by Don Joseph de Cor- 
dova ; and, after an action, which continued about five hours 
and a half, defeated his opponents with a loss, on their side, of 
four ships of the fine, and twelve-hundred men, killed and 
wounded ; the British loss, in men, being about three-hundred. 
On the eleventh of October, admiral Duncan, with sixteen sail 
of the line^ and two frigates, carrying eleven-hundred-and-thirty=. 



NAPOLEON. 59 

four guns, engaged the Dutch fleet, ofT Camperdown, under 
admiral De Winter, consisting of an equal number of ships of 
the line, but of much inferior size, accompanied by ten smaller 
vessels, mounting altogether twelve-hundred-and-sixty-six guns ; 
having on board a body of French troops, for the invasion of 
Ireland ; and, after a most sanguinary conflict, of about three 
hours duration, in which the Dutch seemed emulous of rivalling 
the heroic days of De Ruy ter and Van Tromp, the British were 
again victorious ; having captured twelve vessels, ten of which 
were of the line. Amongst the prisoners, were De Winter, 
and his second in command. The loss of the British, in killed 
and wounded, was seven-hundred-and-fifty ^ that of their oppo- 
nents, at least fifteen-hundred. 

After the battle of St. Vincent, the discomfited vessels of 
the Spanish fleet, sought refuge in the port of Cadiz ; and the 
remains of the Dutch fleet, after its signal overthrow, off" Cam- 
perdown, found safety in the Texel. 

But the naval flag of Britain, was not equally fortunate, in 
its attempt against Teneriflfe. An attack made upon that island, 
by a squadron of seven ships of the line, under admiral Nelson, 
from which were landed a thousand marines, commanded by 
captain Trowbridge, ended in the repulse of the latter ; after 
a considerable destruction of men, and the loss of an arm, by 
the gallant admiral himself. 

The pacific attitude of the continental enemies of France, 
was yather injurious, than favourable, to the maintenance of 
tranquillity at home. It required the heavy pressure of foreign 
interposition, to prevent the new constitution from exploding. 
The- executive and legislative bodies, were now in a state of 
open hostility; owing to a charge, made by the former, against 
the latter, of conspiring to overturn the government, and place 
Louis XVin. upon the throne! The discontent and suspicion, 
excited by the measures of the two councils, in having passed 
laws in favour of the emigrants and non-juring priests, had 
reached the armies ; and the troops in Italy, under Buonaparte, 
as if in imitation of the pretorian bands of the Roman, and the 
Janissaries of the Turkish empire, having led the way, in ad- 
dressing the directory, their example was speedily followed, by 
all the other armies of the republic. The address from the 
division of Massena, concluded in these intelligible words:— 
*^ Does the road to Paris present more obstacles than the road 
to Vienna ? No ! it will be opened to us, by the republicans who 
have remained faithful to liberty." — Thus, supported by the 
armies, and having appointed Talleyrand minister for foreign 



60 THE LIFE OF 

■->- 

affairs, the directory determined upon the complete destruction 
of their opponents. The execution of this duty, was confided 
to general Augereau; a bold and active officer, lately despatch- 
ed from Italy, by Buonaparte, under the pretext of conveying, 
to Paris, the standards taken at Mantua. On the morning of 
the eighteenth Fructidor, (fourth of September,) the alarm-gun 
w^as fired, by order of a majority of the directory^ — Barras, 
^ Reubel, and La Revelliere — for Barthelemi refused to concur 
in these violent measures, and was put under arrest, and Carnot 
effected his escape. Accompanied by a body of soldiers, Au* 
gereau, having entered the hall of the council of five-hundred, 
with his own hand seized upon general Pichegru, the president 
of the council ; and, after ordering that officer, and eighteen 
others of the conspirators, as they were called, to be imprisoned 
in the Temple, like Cromwell, he dissolved the assembly, and 
sealed the doors of the hall. 

The council of five-hundred was summoned to meet at one 
of the public theatres. A committee of public safety was nom- 
inated, by the directory; under whose dictation, the late elec- 
tions, in not fewer than forty-nine departments, were declared 
void ; the vacancies, occasioned by the expulsion of the obnox- 
ious members, were filled, by the directory ; the decree in 
favour of the emigrants, was revoked ; and fifty-three members 
of the councils, amongst whom was Pichegru, and the two 
directors, Carnot and Barthelemi, were ordered, without either 
trial or examination, to be transported to Cayenne. 

But these measui'es, alone, were not thought sufficient, by 
the directorial tyrants, to ensure their despotic power. They 
restrained the free liberty of speech in the councils, and sub- 
jected the press to th6 surveillance of the police. 

Francis de Neufchateau and Antoine Merlin, were elected, 
by the council of elders, to fill the vacancies in the directory, 
occasioned by the expulsion of Carnot and Barthelemi. 

Illegal and tyrannical as was the conduct of the directory, 
towards the individuals charged with treason, yet their sus- 
picions, as regarded the designs of a majority of the council 
of five-hundred, and a large number of the elders, v^^ere not 
unfounded. They desired the restoration of the Bourbons. 
That Pichegru purposely allowed his army to be defeated, by 
the Austrians, circumstances afforded no slender proof; and 
that he afterwards corresponded with the agents of the royal 
family, convincing evidence was obtained, by the seizure of 
some documents, at Venice. 

In the month of November, Frederick Wilham II., king of 



NAPOLEON. 61 

Prussia, was removed, by the hand of death, after a reign of 
eleven years, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick Wil- 
liam III. 

Qj. In the beginning of this year, a new revolution occur- 
red, in Italy. A tumult having happened, at Rome, in 
which the residence of the French ambassador, Joseph Buona- 
parte, was invaded, and a republican general killed, an army, 
commanded by Berthier, entered that capital ; and, on the fif- 
teenth of February, having abolished the papal government, 
established a commonwealth, under the designation of the Ro- 
man Republic. The Pope, Pius VI., was made prisoner, and 
carried to Valence, in France ; where he died, in the following 
year, at the patriarchal age of eighty-one. 

Rome was not the only quarter, where the repose of nations 
was disturbed. Hostihties were suddenly declared, by the 
French, against Switzerland ; the thirteen cantons of which, 
after a peace which had endured for ages, were now condemned 
to experience all the horrors of a most rancorous war. At- 
tached, from habit and interest, to monarchal, the Swiss were 
decidedly averse to republican France ; and some of the can- 
tons, particularly Berne, had not only refused, for a consider- 
able period, to recognise the French republic, but had counte- 
nanced the assembling of the emigrant army, within their bor- 
ders ; and the latter had compelled the French ambassador to 
quit Soleure. The management of the war, was confided, on 
the part of France, to general Brune. The conflict was most 
sanguinary, and many thousands of the republican army, were 
slain ; but, after a terrible battle, near the town of Standz, all 
Switzerland submitted, and accepted a new constitution, im- 
posed by the victors ; Lucerne was chosen, as the seat of gov- 
ernment, and an alliance entered into, between the French and 
the Helvetic Republic. 

As the subjugation of Great Britain, seemed too arduous a 
task, for the " French army of England," which had long been 
stationed at Boulogne and on the adjacent shores, threatening 
tlaily invasion of the Albion coast, general Buonaparte, who, 
after his return from Italy, had been appointed its commander, 
averting his eyes from the west, directed all his attention to 
the east. Smitten with the love of glory, and imbued with 
lofty notions, from his early youth, this young general had 
formed plans of gigantic magnitude ; which, confiding in his 
talents and his good fortune, he thought himself destined to 
accomplish. The conquest of Egypt now filled his ambitious 
mind. He considered that country as a stepping-stone, from 

F 



62 THE LIFE OF 

which, when in the possession of France, he might proceed, 
with sure and rapid strides, to overturn the British empire in 
Hindostan. 

Eager to find employment for armies, whose cupidity had 
been rather sharpened, than satisfied, by the plunder of the 
Italian states ; and desirous to remove a general, in whose 
presence their power seemed not only eclipsed, but endangered; 
the directory consented to this romantic enterprise. Although 
the project was founded on the spoliation of an ancient ally, 
its gross injustice was overlooked, in the splendid advantages 
Avhich it promised to bestow. Such are the fascinations of 
ambition. An armament was prepared, to deprive the Turkish 
emperor, Selim III., of his sovereignty over Egypt; which 
yielded an annual income to his treasury, and supplied his 
capital with corn. 

The English fleet, under admiral Nelson, having been blown 
off", from the blockade of Toulon, Buonaparte sailed from that 
port, on the twentieth of May, with an army of twenty-five- 
thousand men. His subordinate generals were scarcely less 
accomphshed than himself, in the art of war,— Kleber, Dessaix, 
and Berthier; Regnier, Davoust, and Lasnes; Andreossi, and 
Murat. Accompanying him, were artists of every kind, men 
of science, in all its various departments, (amongst whom was 
Berthollet, the chemist, JVIonge, and Denon,) with every thing 
requisite for the establishment of an extensive colony. The 
vessels numbered three-hundred sail. The line-of-battle ships 
extended over a league ; and the crescent, formed by the trans- 
ports, covered not less than six leagues. After a passage of 
eighteen days, the fleet arrived in view of Malta ; and, on the 
second morning afterwards, being the twelfth of June, having 
met very little resistance, a body of French troops entered the 
city of Valetta, and became masters of the whole island; and 
thus, the ancient military order of St. John of Jerusalem, or 
knights of Malta— formerly the chaste and devoted guardians 
of Christendom, against the Turks, but now becom.e luxurious 
and sensual debauchees — were bereaved of their territory, after 
possessing it nearly three-hundred years. 

The fortress of Valetta, almost impregnable, if defended with 
sofl[icient firmness, now yielded, with so little opposition, that 
one of Buonaparte's officers said to him, as they passed through 
its most formidable defences, — " It is well, general, that there 
was some one within, to open the gates to us : we should have 
had more trouble in entering, if the place had been altogether 
empty." 



NAPOLEON. 63 

The ardent temperament of Buonaparte, (lid not allow him 
to remain long at Malta. Having appointed a provisional gov- 
ernment, and confided to general Vaubois, the care of his new 
acquisition, designed as an intermediate station between France 
and Egypt, on the nineteenth of June, he again proceeded to 
sea ; and in the evening of the thirtieth, the fleet anchored in 
the harbour of Alexandria. 

Egypt was then governed by a pacha or viceroy, sent from 
Constantinople ; and twenty-four beys, who, being at the head 
of provinces and armies, possessed, in reality, all the power. 
The pacha retained his office no longer than while he was sub- 
servient to their designs. The inhabitants numbered about 
four-milhons. The real natives are a timid and unwarlike sect 
of Christians, named Copts. Besides these, are the Arabs, 
the Mamelukes, and the Turks. The Arabs are of two classes 
— the Fellahs and the Bedouins : the former cultivate the earth; 
the latter rove through the desert, and subsist by plunder, or 
by means of their flocks and herds. The Mamelukes hold both 
Copts and Arabs in subjection : they are (or, we should rather 
say, were) a corps of professed soldiers, having no vocation 
but that of war. Their corps was recruited only by the adop- 
tion of foreign slaves, brought chiefly from Georgia and Cir- 
cassia. These were purchased, when children, by the several 
Beys, or Mameluke leaders; who, twenty-four in number, oc- 
cupied, each, one of the departments, into which they had 
divided Egypt. At this period, they amounted to eight-thou- 
sand ; and constituted the principal military force. Individu- 
ally considered, they v»'^eie the finest cavalry in the world. They 
are armed with a sabre, which they use with inimitable dex- 
terity ; two pistols, and also a carbine resembling a common 
blunderbuss, which will discharge a dozen balls at once : they 
are mounted on the finest Arabian horses ; and, from the bow 
of their saddle, hangs a heavy mace. 

Alexandria was summoned to surrender, on the fifth of July. 
The summons, however, being disregarded, the invaders im- 
mediately commenced an attack ; and, in a ^e\\ houi-s, carried, 
by assault, with the loss of only seventy-one soldiers, killed and 
wounded, this once famous city ; which, in the seventh century, 
sustained a siege, against the Saracens, of fourteen months, 
and beheld the death, before its walls, of twenty-three-thousand 
men. Alexandria, founded by the Macedonian conqueror, was 
the residence of Cleopatra. It had now wholly fallen from its 
ancient greatness. Though it once contained a population of 
three-hundred thousand, and boasted of four thousand baths, it 



64 THE LIFE OF 

now presented, to the invaders, only wretched and confused 
huts, rather than houses ; the streets narrow, unpaved, and 
filthy, and the inhabitants, in number only twelve-thousand,, 
stupid, ignorant, and barbarous. 

" It would be impossible for me," says an eminent savant,* 
who accompanied this expedition, " to describe what I felt on 
entering Alexandria, where there was neither any one to re- 
ceive us, or to prevent our going on shore. We could scarcely 
prevail upon a group of beggars, leaning on their crutches, to 
point out to us the head-quarters. All the houses were shut : 
those who had not dared to fight, had fled ; and those who had: 
not been killed in the combat, had concealed themselves, for 
fear of being put to death, according to the oriental custom. 
Every thing was new to our sensations — the soil, the form of 
the buildings, the persons, customs, and language of the in- 
habitants. The first prospect that presented itself to our view,, 
was an extensive burying-ground, covered with innumerable 
tomb-stones, of white marble, on a white soil. Amongst those 
monuments, were seen wandering, several meagre women, 
with long tattered garments, resembling so many ghosts. The 
silence was interrupted only by the screeching of the kites, 
which hovered over this sanctuary of death." 

Buonaparte had no sooner taken Alexandria, than he an- 
nounced his purpose. He issued a proclamation ; in which, 
he professed his respect for God, the Prophet, and the Koran ; 
his friendship for the Grand Seignior, of whom he affirmed the 
French to be faithful allies ; and announced his determination 
to make war upon the Mamelukes. He commanded that the 
prayers should be continued in the mosques, as usual, with 
some slight alterations ; and that all true Moslems should ex-, 
claim, " Glory to the Sultan, and to the French army, his al- 
lies! — Accursed be the Mamelukes, and good fortune to the 
land of Egypt!" 

Of this proclamation — the subject of so many critical re- 
marks — we shall here present a literal translation : — 

"Too long, have the beys, who govern Egypt, insulted the 
French nation, and loaded her merchants with vexations : — the 
hour of their chastisement is arrived. Too long, has this horde 
of slaves, purchased from Caucasus and Georgia, tyrannized 
over the fairest portion of the world. But God, upon whom 
every thing depends, has ordered its empire to end. People 
of Egypt ! you will be told that I come to destroy your religion : 

* Denon. 



NAPOLEON. oi> 

— believe it not : reply, that I am come to restore your rights, 
and punish the usurper, and, that 1 venerate, more than the 
Mamelukes, God, his Prophet, and the Koran. Tell them, 
that all men are equal, before God : wisdom, talents, virtues, 
make all the difference between them. Now, what virtues, 
what talents, what wisdom, distinguish the Mamelukes, that 
they, exclusively, should possess all that is lovely and sweet in 
life ? Is there a beautiful estate ? — it belongs to the Mamelukes. 
Is there a beautiful slave, a beautiful horse, a beautiful house ? 
— they belong to the Mamelukes. If Egypt be their farm, let 
them show the lease granted to them by God. But God is just 
and bountiful, to all mankind : — all the Egyptians are called to 
fill all posts : let the most wise, the most informed, the most 
virtuous, govern, and the people will be happy. There were 
formerly amongst you, great cities, great canals, great com- 
merce. By what, has all been destroyed, if not by the avarice, 
the injustice, and the tyranny of the Mamelukes? — Cadis! 
Sheiks! Imans! Ishorbadjies ! tell the people that we are the 
friends of true Moslems. Is it not we, that have destroyed 
the pope, who said that war must be made on Moslems ? Is 
it not we, that destroyed the knights of Malta, because those 
madmen believed God willed them to make war on Moslems ? 
Is it not' we, that have been the friends of the Grand Seig- 
nior (whose designs may God accomplish !) and the enemies, 
of his enemies ? Are not the Mamelukes, on the other hand, 
in continual rebellion against the Grand Seignior, whom they 
still refuse to- acknowledge ? — They execute only their own 
schemes. Thrice happy, those that are for us! — they shall 
prosper, in their rank and fortune. Happy those that are 
neuter! — they will have time to become acquainted with us, and 
they will come over to our side. But wretched, thrice wretched, 
those that shall arm for the Mamelukes, and fight against us I 
— there shall be no hope for these ; they shall all perish ! — 
Every one shall thank God, for the destruction of the Mame- 
lukes ; and cry. Glory to the Sultan, glory to the French army, 
his allies ! — accursed be the Mamelukes, and good fortune to 
the land of Egypt !" 

General Dessaix was immediately despatched against Cairo ; 
Rosetta was subdued by general Kleber; on the seventh of 
July, the main body of the army entered the desert, and, after 
experiencing the most distressing privations, from heat and 
thirst, arrived at Demenhur. Buonaparte here found himself 
in a situation, similar to that of Columbus, when first crossing 
the unknown extent of the Atlantic Ocean. The army of Italy, 

F2 



QQ . THE LIFE OF 

accustomed to the enjoyments of that luxurious country, were^ 
amazed at the desolation they saw around them. "Is this," 
they said, " the country, in which we are to receive our farms 
of seven acres each ? The general might have allowed us to 
take as much as we chose — -no one would have abused the 
privilege." 

The French were obliged to march with the utmost caution. 
The plain was covered with Mamelukes, dashing over the sands, 
on their swift Arabian chargers ; now, pursuing a straggler, in 
one direction — then wheeling, at full gallop, in another — 
brandishing their highly polished sabres — their plumed turbans 
waving in the air, and their rich dresses and arms glittering in 
the sun. Dessaix had nearly been made prisoner, by his having 
remained only fifty paces in the rear of the column. Another 
officer, of distinguished reputation, was slain within a hundred 
paces of the advanced guard. General Galois was killed when 
carrying an order to the commander-in-chief; and an adjutant,. 
a remarkably fine young officer, was made prisoner, at a very 
small distance from the army, when crossing a ditch. A price 
being demanded for his ransom, the Arabs disputed about the 
booty, amongst themselves, and^ to terminate the quarrel, blew 
out his brains. 

Four-thousand Mamelukes were concentrated, near the vil- 
lage of Chebreissa, situated on the left bank of the Nile. Here,, 
were fought two separate actions ; one on the water, the other 
on the land. Buonaparte formed his army into five squares, 
with the carriages and baggage in the centre. Impelled by 
their natural impetuosity, and holding a body of mere infantry 
in contempt, the Mamelukes began the attack, and were suf- 
fered to approach within the reach of grape-shot ; when the 
cannon suddenly opened, and forced the main body of the as- 
sailants to retreat : but some, bolder than the rest, continued 
to advance, and met their fate, either at the muzzle of the 
muskets, or the bayonet's point. Chebreissa was carried by 
assault, and the flotilla, belonging to the beys, retired, after a 
desperate action ; in which, six-hundred men were killed, on 
the side of the vanquished, and only seventy on that of the victors. 

We here take an opportunity of citing a trait of the hospi- 
tality of the Bedouin Arabs. A French ofiicer had been several 
months a prisoner to one of their chiefs, whose camp being af- 
terwards surprised, in the night, by the French dragoons, he 
had barely time to escape ; his tents, cattle, and provisions, hav- 
ing fallen into his enemies' hands. On the following day, a 
fugitive, solitary, and without any resources, he drew from his; 



NAPOLEON. 67 

pocket, a cake, and, presenting one-half of it to his prisoner, 
said to him : " I do not know when we shall have any more 
food ; but I shall not be charged with having refused to share 
my last morsel with one whom I may esteem as my friend." 

Certain, however, of an easy victory, notwithstanding their 
many defeats, the Mamelukes at length forebore to harass the 
French army, on its march ; which was rendered sulBiciently 
painful by its length, by the heat of the climate, and by the 
sufferings of hunger and thirst ; to which, may be added, the 
torments of a hope, constantly cheated, and constantly renewed. 
In the midst of corn, the French soldiers were in want of bread ; 
while they were a prey to thirst, with the image of a vast lake 
before their eyes. This punishment results from an illusion, 
peculiar to that country. It is produced by the reflexion of 
salient objects on the oblique rays of the sun, refracted by the 
heat of the burning soil; and this phenomenon has so truly the 
appearance of water, that the observer is continually deceived 
by it ; while it provokes a thirst which is the more importunate, 
as the instant when it presents itself to the view, is the hottest 
time of the day. 

Neither heat nor thirst impeded the progress of the French 
commander. Pursuing his victorious career, he advanced, 
through deserted villages, to Embabey ; whence, on the twen- 
tieth of July, he beheld, towards the left, the stupendous pyra- 
mids, and in front, a splendid line of six-thousand Mamelukes, 
commanded by Murad Bey. Nothing, in war, was ever seen 
more desperate, than their exertions. They disordered one 
of the French squares of infantry ; which would have been 
quickly sabred, only that the mass of those "fiery cavaliers, was 
a little behind the advanced guard. The French used a favour- 
able moment, to restore order. Failing to force their horses 
tlirough the squares, in the usual manner, individual Mame- 
lukes were seen to wheel them round, and rein them back 
against the ranks, that they might disorder them by kicking. 
They hurled at these human walls, which they could not break, 
their pistols, their poniards, their maces, and their carbines. 
Those who fell wounded, to the ground, dragged themselves 
on, to cut at the legs of the French, with their sabres. These 
were the last efforts of desperation. But they were all in vain. 
They were again defeated. One body, of fifteen-hundred Mam- 
elukes, defended themselves, until not a single man of their 
number remained ahve. Murad being forced to quit the field, 
left behind four-hundred camels, his artillery, baggage, and 



68 THE LIFE OF 

provisions ; and the victors, found all the purses of the van- 
quished Mamelukes, well stored with gold. 

With what ardency of purpose, man will, in some situations, 
seek the destruction of his fellow-being, an instance may be 
shown, which occurred in this bloody fight. A French soldier, 
mortally wounded, having seized an expiring Mameluke, and 
being in the act of stranghng him, with his hands, an officer 
said to him, — " How can you, in your desperate situation, do 
such an act ?" — " You speak at your ease," the man replied, 
" you who are unhurt ; but I, who have not long to live, must 
have some enjoyment, while I may." 

But, though sanguinary in the heat of battle, a soldier is 
tender-hearted when not engaged in the murderous strife. On 
another occasion, a grenadier was observed approaching a vil- 
lage, just entered by the French, holding, in his arms, a child, 
whose mother had been compelled to desert it, in her flight ; 
yet, this brave fellow, notwithstanding the weight of his musket, 
his cartridges, and his knapsack, and the fatigue of four days 
of forced marches, had picked up this little forsaken creature, 
and carried it carefully, for two leagues, in his arms ; but, not 
knowing what to do with it, in this deserted village, seeing one 
inhabitant left behind, with two children, he gently laid down 
his Httle charge beside them, and departed, with the delightful 
expression of one who has just performed a benevolent action. 

The destruction of the Mamelukes, a body, hitherto regarded 
as invincible, impressed the eastern world with terror ; and the 
continuous fire of small-arms, by which the victory was achiev- 
ed, procured for Buonaparte the appellation of Sultan Rebir, 
or king of fire. 

Neither fatigue nor danger could restrain the French inclina- 
tion for the ludicrous. The savans, or men of science, had 
been supplied with asses, the beasts of burthen easiest procur- 
ed, in Egypt, to carry themselves and their apparatus. The 
commander-in-chief had given especial orders to attend to 
their personal safety. But, as this corps of research was little 
respected, by the common soldiers, loud bursts of laughter used 
to issue, from the ranks, while forming to receive the Mame- 
lukes, as the general of division called out, in a formal, military 
tone, — " Let the asses and the savans enter within the square." 

The victory of the Pyramids, obtained with a trifling loss, 
opened the gates of Cairo, to the invaders. The chief inhabit- 
ants hastened to the camp of Buonaparte, to solicit his protec- 
tion ; while the fortunate leader of the French troops, seized 
this opportunity, to visit the pyramids, and there prophesied, 



NAPOLEON. 69 

that his exploits would not be forgotten, at the end of four-thou- 
sand years. 

On entering the chamber in the pyramid of Cheops, " Glory 
be to Allah," said the politic commander; "there is no God, 
but God, and Mahomet is his prophet!" — "Thou hast spoken 
like the most learned of the prophets," said the Mufti, who 
accompanied him. — " I can command a car of fire to descend 
from heaven," rejoined the French general; "and I can guide 
and direct its course on earth." 

The army concluded its operations, at this time, by making 
a circuit through the country. In all the villages through 
which they passed, they were received by the leading personage 
of the country, who levied a contribution from the inhabitants, 
for their maintenance. They established an ordinary post, at 
a village called Almie. Here, a house of entertainment which 
had belonged to the Mamelukes, was furnished, in a moment, 
according to the fashion of the country, with mats, carpets, and 
cushions. A number of attendants first brought in perfumed 
water, pipes, and coffee. Half an hour afterwards, a carpet 
was spread ; near the margin of which, three or four different 
kinds of bread were laid, in heaps, the centre being covered 
with small dishes of fruits, sweetmeats, creams, and other dain- 
ties, the greater part of them pretty good, and highly perfumed. 
This was considered but as a slight repast, which was over in 
a few minutes. In the course of two hours, the same carpet 
was covered again, with large loaves, immense dishes of rice, 
boiled either in milk, or in rich gravy soup ; halves of sheep, 
badly roasted ; large quarters of veal ; boiled heads of different 
animals, and fifty or sixty other dishes, all crowded together, 
consisting of highly seasoned ragouts, vegetables, jellies, sweet- 
meats, and honey in the comb. There were neither chairs 
nor plates, spoons nor . forks, drinking-glasses nor napkins : 
each of the guests squatted on the ground, took up the rice in 
his fingers, tore the meat into pieces with his nails, dipped the 
bread into the ragouts, and wiped his hands and lips with a 
shce of bread. The water was served in a pot; and he who 
did the honours of the table, took the first draught. In the 
same way, he was the first to taste the different dishes ; as well 
to prevent the guests from harbouring any suspicions of him, 
as to show them how strong an interest he took in their safety, 
and how high a value he set on their persons^ The napkins 
were not produced, until after dinner ; when, each of the 
guests, having washed his hands, was sprinkled with rose-water,, 
and the attendants brought in pipes and coffee. 



70 THE LIFE OF 

When the repast was ended, the places of the French wer^s 
occupied by natives of the second class, who were very soon 
succeeded by others. From a motive of religion, a poor beg- 
gar was admitted ; next came, the attendants ; and lastly, all 
those Vt^ho chose to partake, until nothing was left. 

Having organized a provisional government, at Cairo, then 
the capital of Egypt, and also an Institute, in imitation of the 
National Institute of France, Buonaparte followed Murad, and 
compelled him to seek refuge in Upper Egypt ; while Ibraham 
Bey, taking a contrary direction, fled towards Syria. 

Lower Egypt was now completely overcome ; and thus far, 
the expedition of Buonaparte had been successful. But inform- 
ation was soon conveyed to him of a severe reverse. Fortune 
seemed to combat, for the aspiring general, only when he had 
her within his own control. What is commonly ascribed to 
fate, and destiny, and fortune, is due rather to art, and experi- 
ence, and good ^^onduct. On his return to Cairo, he received 
information, that the French fleet, under admiral Brueyes, had 
been destroyed, in Aboukir Bay. — The place of action had 
been already celebrated, in history, as the scene of a famous 
combat, between Augustus Csesar and Mark Antony, nearly 
nineteen-hundred years before, which decided the empire of 
the world. — The British admiral. Nelson, the daring and ac- 
complished seaman — not less great, on the watery element, than 
Buonaparte had rendered himself on land — reached the coast 
of Egypt, on the first of August, in pursuit of admiral Brueyes; 
and discovered his fleet, moored, in a compact line, in the 
bay of Aboukir ; in such a position, that he supposed no ship 
of war could anchor between his vessels and the shore. But, 
in this, he was in error. His enterprising assailant ventured 
within the forbidden space ; and attacked him, upon that side 
which was the least prepared for action. The French had 
thirteen ships of the hne, and four frigates: three of the former 
carried eighty guns, and one of them, the Orient, a hundred- 
and-twenty ; in all, eleven-hundred-and-ninety guns, manned 
by ten-thousand-eight-hundred men. The English had the 
same number of ships of the line, all seventy-fours, and one 
fifty gun ship ; carrying altogether one-thousand-and-twelve 
guns, and eight-thousand-and-sixty men. The advantage, in 
favour of the French, was, therefore, one-hundred-and-seventy- 
eight guns, and two-thousand-seven-hundred-and-forty men, 
The engagement commenced at six in the evening; and never 
was a battle fought, in any age, more awful and destructive 
The British admiral received a wound, in the head, which, 



NAPOLEON. 71 

cutting a large flap of skin from the bone, and falling over his 
only remaining eye, (for he had lost the other, in a former 
battle,) left him in total darkness. Admiral Brueyes, whose 
flag was hoisted on board the Orient, had been three times 
wounded, in the present engagement, without quitting his sta- 
tion ; at length, he received a wound, which almost cut him in 
two: still, he remained on deck, but survived his last wound 
only a quarter of an hour. Soon after nine o'clock, the Orient 
struck her colours, and appeared in flames; at ten, she blew 
up, with a tremendous explosion : after a lapse of about ten 
minutes, during which, the combatants, paralyzed by the awful 
scene, as if by one consent, had ceased to fire, the battle was 
resumed, with undiminished fury ; and continued, with little 
intermission, until day-light, the next morning ; w'hen, out of 
thirteen sail of the line, and four frigates, which had formed 
the fle©t of Brueyes, eleven of the former, and two of the latter, 
were either captured, or destroyed. 

The British loss, in killed and wounded, was nine-hundred. 
Of the French, more than three-thousand, including the wound- 
ed, went on shore, by cartel, and five thousand were slain or 
drowned. 

About seventy of the Orient's crew, were saved, by the Eng- 
lish boats. Amongst the nine-hundred, who perished, were the 
commodore Bianca, and his son, a brave and intelligent boy, of 
about ten years of age ; who were, for a time, seen in the water, 
on the wreck of the Orient's mast, seeking for each other, when 
the ship blew up, and ended both their hopes and fears. 

From the crimsoned waters of Aboukir. we now turn, to a 
scene, which arouses a still greater abhorrence, in the human 
breast. Since the abortive attemjjt to debark a body of troops, 
at Bantry, under the command of general Hoche, the growing 
insurrection of the people of Ireland, had been matured ; and, 
on the twenty-third of May, a rebellion burst forth, with all the 
rancorous fury of civil contest. The cruel severity of lord 
Camden, the viceroy of that unhappy country, served but to 
heighten, instead of abate, the raging tempest; and it required 
a change of government, in the person of lord Cornwallis, to 
allay the storm. This gallant veteran (much as was his conduct 
censured, by Americans, in the southern wal') effected, by his 
humanity, what his predecessor had fiiled to accomplish, by a 
reign of terror. The peasantry returned to their homes. The 
leaders were pardoned, on the terms of expatriation. The 
courts of justice were re-opened ; and thus, after a continuation 
of three months, the rebellion ended ; thirty-thousand men hav- 



72 THE LIFE OF 

ing been slain, in battle, and property worth two-millions ster* 
ling, destroyed, by fire. 

The directory of France seemed eager to renew these scenes 
of blood. Eleven-hundred infantry, under the command of 
general Humbert, were landed, on the twenty-second of Au- 
gust, in Killala Bay, in the county of Mayo ; and, such was 
the gallantry of this little band, that, accompanied by fifteen- 
hundred of the rude inhabitants of Connaught, they marched 
one-hundred-and-fifty miles, through the interior; routed an 
army of six-thousand men, under the veteran Lake ; and main- 
tained their superiority, until, being surrounded by twenty-thou- 
sand, under lord Cornwallis, and having lost nearly three-hun- 
dred in killed and wounded, they surrendered, after an obstinate 
resistance, at Balhnamuck. 

The troops of Humbert, it appears, were designed only as 
the vanguard, to a more formidable invasion. On the twelfth 
of October, sir John Borlase Warren, then cruising off Lough 
Swilly, in the county of Donegal, encountered a squadron of 
French vessels, consisting of one sail of the line and eight frig- 
ates, filled with troops and every species of Warlike stores ; 
when, after a long and obstinate resistance, on the part of his 
enemy, he captured the vessel of the line, and three of the 
frigates ; and three more of the latter were afterwards inter- 
cepted, on their return to France. Amongst the^ prisoners, 
was the celebrated Theobald Wolfe Tone ; long considered as 
the most active of the negotiators, at Paris ; who, having been 
conveyed to Dublin, and sentenced to be hanged, inflicted upon 
himself, in prison, a mortal wound. 

Even had the French army succeeded, in landing at Lough 
Swilly, their situation must shortly have become most embar- 
rassed. It soon became evident, that no reinforcement could 
have been afforded them, from home. 
. „pp In the beginning of the ensuing year, the continent 
became a theatre of gigantic warfare ; and more com- 
batants were set in motion, than had ever been engaged, at one 
time, since Xerxes led his countless millions against Greece. 
The treaty of Campo-Formio had not definitely fixed the boun^ 
daries between the emperor of Germany and France ; nor had 
it finally adjusted the conflicting interests of the German pow^ 
ers. Nor had the congress of Radstadt, assembled in the 
beginning of the preceding year, wholly accomplished those 
desirable objects, but was employed rather in vain forms of 
discussion ; when several incidents occurred, of a diplomatic 
character, which tended to open the wounds, that had not yet 



NAPOLEON. 73 

been completely closed ; and the defeat of the republican fleet, 
at Aboukir, encouraged the emperor Francis, entirely to draw 
the sword, already more than half unsheathed, by the pressing 
interposition of the Russian Paul ; who, on his accession to 
the throne of Catherine, resolved to enforce, by the presence 
of an army, what his mother had only proclaimed, by threats. 

To give only a brief summary of the numerous and sanguin- 
ary battles, that occurred, in the first campaign, would require 
more pages, than have been devoted to the whole of this im- 
perfect sketch. We have already exhibited a heart-rending 
specimen of the revolutionary wars. Only the most remark- 
able battles, shall henceforth be recorded. — Jourdan was placed 
at the head of the French army of the Danube ; to Massena, 
was confided that of Switzerland ; to Joubert, the defence of 
Italy, aided by Moreau, as a volunteer. To these consummate 
generals, were opposed, the archduke Charles, Melas, and 
Suwarrow. But the French armies were, at this time, much 
neglected, by the department of war. The government of 
France was subject to the severest animadversions. The di- 
rectory had suffered themselves to be surprised, by the sudden 
appearance of the Russians; both energy and patriotism, were 
alike wanting, in their councils ; and they appear to have been 
influenced by a spirit of rapacity and corruption. Under these 
circumstances, the armies of the rival powers had entered the 
field. Never had France appeared in a more critical situation. 
Neither the skill, nor the valour, nor the constancy of her 
commanders, was able to withstand the disadvantages under 
which they fought. Her armies were every where inferior, every 
where dispirited, every where overcome. Her troops were 
expelled from Germany and Switzerland ; of all her Italian 
conquests, only the barren rocks of Liguria remained in her 
possession ; and the English threatened Holland with invasion. 

General Joubert was killed, in the battle of Pozzolo. Eager 
to animate his troops, in advancing, at the head of his staff*, he 
was struck with a ball, which pierced his heart : — still, he con- 
tinued, in the agonies of death, to exhort to deeds of heroism ; 
and fell, exclaiming, " March ! March I and fight for the re- 
public !" 

Such, is the fate of the soldier — such, the uncertainty of war. 
But, in this extremity, the existence of the republic was pro- 
longed, by the revolution of the eighteenth of June. No sooner 
were Treillard, Larevelliere, and Merlin, succeeded in the 
directorial office, by Roger Ducos, Gonier, and Moulin, than 
the most energetic measures were adopted, to reinforce the 

G 



74 THE LIFE OF 

armies, and enable them to act, once more, on the offensive. 
The indefatigable Massena, having received a fresh supply of 
troops, carried Zurich, by assault ; slew an immense number 
of the Austro-Russian army ; took five-thousand prisoners, 
one-hundred pieces of cannon, fifteen standards, together with 
nearly all the baggage of the Russians, and compelled the allies 
to repass the Rhine. The scale of fortune once more prepon- 
derated in favour of the republic. Her generals again became 
masters of Helvetia, penetrated into Germany, seized upon 
Frankfort, Manheim, and Heidelberg, and threatened to lay 
all that portion of the empire under contribution. Of one-hun- 
dred-thousand men, who, eight months before, had joined the 
army of Suwarrow, scarcely one-half reached the banks of the 
river Lech. Overwhelmed with grief and disappointment, this 
veteran warrior, the most successful of the Russian generals, 
who had never before been beaten, retired to his native country, 
where he soon afterwards died, in the seventieth year of his 
age, of a broken heart. 

In Italy, however, the arms of the republic were not equally 
successful. But the campaign did not conclude, in that coun- 
try, so auspiciously, for the allies, as it had commenced : the 
defection of the emperor of Russia, damped the expectations 
of the court of Vienna, and laid the foundation of those disas- 
ters, which afterwards constrained all the sovereigns of conti- 
nental Europe, to become the vassals of a single chief. 

During these transactions, an army of thirty-thousand Eng- 
lish troops, landed, in Holland, in two divisions ; the first, 
commanded by sir Ralph Abercrombie ; the second, by the 
duke of York. Having been joined by seventeen-thousand 
Russians, the first operations of the duke, who had assumed 
the chief command, were crowned with success ; and, after 
being victorious, in a hard-fought action, on the second of Oc- 
tober, he took possession of Alkmaar. But, after these advan- 
tages, he was disappointed in the expected co-operation of the 
Dutch ; a combination of insurmountable difficulties, rendered 
all further progress impossible; and the duke, after having 
obtained the surrender of twelve Dutch ships of war, and thir- 
teen large vessels, intended for the trade of India, concluded 
an armistice, with the French general, Brune, and evacuated 
Holland. 

While a new coalition was formed, against France, in Eu- 
rope, her army in the east, excluded, by the disaster at Abou- 
kir, from all communication with the native country, was em- 
ployed in the reduction of Egypt.. From Cairo, now the centre 



NAPOLEON. 75 

of his operations, Buonaparte despatched general Dessaix, in 
pursuit of Murad Bey, into Upper Egypt ; while the army under 
his own immediate command, chased Ibrahim into the desert. - 
After saihng, a considerable distance, up the Nile, Dessaix, on 
the sixteenth of October, (1798,) overtook the main body of 
Murad's forces, at Sedimen, consisting of about three-thousand 
Mamelukes and eight-thousand Arabs ; and, after a most des- 
perate engagement, defeated his adversaries ; who left three 
beys and several thousand of their army, stretched on the field 
of battle. Upper Egypt was now subdued. The French be- 
ing indefatigable in the pursuit, Murad, Hassan, Soliman, and 
eight other beys, perceiving that their Mamelukes were slain, 
and that the Arabs deserted daily, were under the necessity of 
withdrawing beyond the cataracts. 

In the mean time, Achmet pacha, surnamed D'jezzar, or the 
butcher, who, at this period, governed Syria, under a nominal 
subjection to the Ottoman Porte, encouraged by the Turks, 
seized on the fort of El Arish, and made preparations to invade 
Lower Egypt ; Alexandria was also blockaded, by the Enghsh ; 
in consequence of which, Buonaparte determined to avert the 
dangers which threatened his new conquests ; and, by carrying 
the war into Syria, to render the enemy's country the scene of 
war. He resolved to march against the pacha, in person. 
General Regnier, who commanded the advanced guard, arrived 
on the eighth of February, (1799,) at the grove of palm-trees, 
near the sea, in front of El Arish ; and, notwitJistanding the 
strong situation of the place, he carried the village, with the 
bayonet: on the arrival of the commander-in-chief, he ordered 
one of the towers of the castle to be cannonaded ; and, a breach 
having been nearly effected, the garrison, consisting of fifteen- 
hundred men, surrendered, on condition of being allowed to 
retire to Bagdad. After traversing many leagues of an arid 
desert, during which they were exposed to ail the horrors of 
extreme thirst, the French army arrived, on the twenty-eighth, 
at Gaza ; of which, without any opposition, they obtained pos- 
session ; and, proceeding in their bloody conquests, on the fifth 
of March, they reached Jaffa; (the Joppa of ancient days;) 
the garrison of which place, after fighting from street to street, 
and from roof to roof, and losing several thousand men, were 
at length overpowered. 

At Jaffa, as at all other places of importance, Buonaparte 
organized a divan, of the principal inhabitants, in the French 
interest ; and, after appointing general Gressier to the com- 
mand of the place, he proceeded, at the head of his troops, for 



76 THE LIFE OF 

Acre. Continuing his march, by the way of Caesarea, he ar- 
rived, on the seventeenth of March, within two-thousand yards 
of its lofty towers ; but, on ascending the heights, on the fol- 
lowing morning, he beheld the town prepared for a siege ; and 
was no less astonished, than chagrined, on beholding the 
colours of Great Britain flying in the harbour. 

St. Jean d'Acre, so celebrated during the crusades, is built 
on a peninsula, advancing into the sea, and so conveniently 
situated, that vessels can lie near the shore, and annoy, with 
their fire, whatever approaches to assault its fortifications. At 
this moment, it contained, within its walls, two singular men ; 
who, to the romantic heroism of the days of chivalry, united 
all the knowledge appertaining to the art of war — Sir Sydney 
Smith, a British naval officer, already mentioned, as having 
superintended the destruction of the French arsenals and 
vessels, in the port of Toulon ; and Colonel Philippeaux, an 
emigrant officer of engineers, a school-fellow and early com- 
panion of the French commander-in-chief. Having rescued 
his friend, Sir Sydney Smith, from bondage, in the Temple, at 
the hazard of his life, the colonel, after cruising with Sir Syd- 
ney, in the Levant, had embarked for Syria, to employ his 
talents as an engineer, and afford assistance to the pacha. 

The fortress having been reconnoitred, it was determined to 
attack the front of the salient angle, towards the east. On the 
thirtieth of March, the trenches were opened, at the distance 
of a hundred-and-fifty fathoms from the wall ; when the garri- 
son made a spirited sortie, but were repulsed, and forced to 
retire, with precipitation, within the walls. As the tower, 
against which the principal attack was directed, appeared, on 
the first of April, to be pierced, and the counterscarp was sup- 
posed to have been destroyed, by a mine that had been sprung, 
the troops demanded and obtained leave, to advance, and storm 
the fortress. It soon, however, became evident, that little pains 
had been taken, to ascertain the nature of the works ; for, on 
rushing forward, it was discovered, that a ditch of fifteen feet 
was to be passed, while the counterscarp was almost untouched^ 
and the breach, which was not large, had been effected more 
than six feet above the surface of the ground. Notwithstanding 
these obstacles, a body of grenadiers, descended into the ditch, 
and attempted to scale the wall ; but their leader was shot, and, 
it being discovered, that the only eflfect produced by the late 
explosion, was a small opening in the glacis, nothing could be 
achieved. The garrison was, at first, seized with terror, and 
many of the Turkish soldiers ran towards the harbour ; but, no 



NAPOLEON. 77 

sooner did they perceive that the opening in the wall was several 
feet above the rubbish, than they returned to the charge, and, 
showering down stones, grenades, and combustibles, upon the 
assailants, obliged them to retire, after sustaining considerable 
loss. 

But, it was not alone with Acre, that Buonaparte had to 
contend. All the neiglibouring districts were in arms; and 
the Samaritan Arabs made incursions, into his very camp. 
Under these circumstances, he despatched generals Junot and 
Kleber, against the enemy, whom he was determined to drive 
beyond the Jordan ; and, finding that the troops, sent under 
these commanders, were unable to repel the native force, he 
left two divisions, to guard the trenches before Acre, and pro- 
ceeded against the enemy, in person. On the sixteenth, he 
perceived general Kleber's division, numbering only two-thou- 
sand, fighting, at the foot of Mount Tabor, and nearly sur- 
rounded, by twenty-five-thousand horse ; but, no sooner had 
Kleber received information, by the discharge of a twelve- 
pounder, that succour was approaching, than he attacked and 
carried the town of Fouli, with the bayonet ; charged the cav- 
alry, already thrown into confusion, by the French horse, under 
general Rampon, and compelled them to retire beyond the 
Mount; where a great number was drowned, in the river Jor- 
dan. The result of the battle of Mount Tabor, was, the defeat 
of twenty-five-thousand cavalry and ten-thousand infantry, by 
four-thousand French troops; and the flight of the enemy, to 
Damascus, after a loss of five-thousand men. 

Having, in this summary manner, driven off those trouble- 
some neighbours, Buonaparte returned to the walls of Acre. 
The siege was now prosecuted with increased vigour. Up to 
the ninth of May, the French had made nine several attempts 
to storm, but, had as often been repulsed, with immense slaugh- 
ter. Eleven sorties had also been made, by the garrison. 
Reinforcements, for the relief of the besieged, having appeared 
in the harbour, the fire of the besiegers was suddenly increased, 
ten-fold, and they succeeded in making a lodgment in the second 
story of the north-east tower. Day-light, on the following 
morning, showed the French standard waving on the outer 
angle of the tower, and the troops had covered themselves in 
the lodgment; having constructed two passages across the 
ditch, composed of sand-bags, and the bodies of their dead. 
At this most critical point of the contest, Hassan Bey's troops, 
though they had advanced half-way towards the shore, were 
still in their boats. Colonel Philippeaux had, before this time, 

G2 



■78 THE LIFE OF 

died of fever. Sir Sydney Smith, whose energy gave effect to 
every operation, landed them, with the utmost speed, and, 
placing himself at the head of the British seamen, armed with 
pikes, marched them to the breach. A heap of ruins, between 
the besieged and the assailants, served as a breast-work, for 
both ; the muzzles of the guns touched, the spear-heads of the 
standards locked. The flanking fire of the besieged, at length 
dislodged the besiegers, from the tower. The group of French 
generals, which the shells from the sixty-eight-pounders had 
frequently dispersed, had now re-assembled, on an eminence, 
rendered famous by the exploits of an Enghsh prince ; and 
Buonaparte was distinguished, by Sir Sydney Smith, on Richard 
Coeur de Lion's Mount, burning with rage, and intimating, by 
his gesticulations, that the attack was to be renewed. — A little 
before sunset, a massive column was seen advancing to the 
breach. The pacha, opposed, to the assault, on this occasion, 
a singular kind of tactics. At his suggestion, the breach was 
not defended; but a certain number of the enemy were ad- 
mitted, and then closed upon, according to the Turkish mode 
of war. The column thus mounted the breach, unmolested,^ 
and descended, from the rampart, into the pacha's garden, 
where, in a few minutes, the bravest and most advanced amongst 
them, lay, without their heads ; the sabre in one hand, and the 
dagger in the other, proving more than a match for the bayo- 
nets. Finding the assault desperate, the survivors hastened to 
sound a retreat ; general Lasnes was carried off, severely 
wounded ; generals Rombaud and Bon were killed ; and thus 
ended an attempt to storm, continued, with little intermission, 
for five-and-twenty hours. 

The plague had, by this time, found its way into the French 
camp, and carried off seven-hundred men. It was determined, 
on the eleventh of May, to make a final effort ; and general 
Kleber's corps was recalled, from the fords of Jordan. But, 
the assaults made, even by these fresh troops, were as ineffec- 
tual as the former. The attack of the morning failed, and 
colonel Veneaux renewed it, in the afternoon. " Be assured," 
said he, to Buonaparte, " Acre will be yours, to-night, or 
Veneaux will die in the breach." — He was true to his word ; 
he lost his life, but Acre was not subdued. The grenadiers at 
length refused to mount the breach, over the putrid bodies of 
their unburied companions. Buonaparte, for the first time in 
his life, perceiving himself foiled — and that too, by a handful 
of sailors, behind the walls of a town, scarcely defensible ac- 
cording to the rules of art — now declared the place not worth 



NAPOLEON. 79 

the sacrifice even of a few days : during the night of the seven- 
teenth, the French army began to remove the sick and wound- 
ed ; on the twentieth, at nine o'clock, at night, the generale 
was beaten, and the siege raised ; after having continued sixty 
days, and caused a loss, to the assailants, of nearly five-thousand 
men. 

Amongst the generals killed, in the siege of Acre, was Caf- 
ferelli ; who died of the amputation of an arm. He had be- 
fore lost a leg, in France ; which induced the French soldiers, 
who disliked him, as one of the principal contrivers of the 
Egyptian expedition, to say, when they saw him pass before 
them, " He, at least, need care little about the matter — he is 
sure to have one foot in France." 

After blowing up the fortifications of Jaffa and Gaza, and 
inflicting terrible vengeance upon those who had dared to de- 
fend their country, against the invaders, the French retraced 
their steps over the desert, and, on the fourteenth of June, re- 
entered Cairo ; where they were received, by the inhabitants, 
ignorant of the repulse from Acre, as victors. 

A French historian, Miot, gives a melancholy picture of the 
indifference with which soldiers, on a retreat, regard the suf- 
ferings of those whose strength does not enable them to keep 
pace with the march. He describes a man, affected by the 
dread of being left to the cruel retaliation of the Turks, snatch- 
ing up his knapsack, and staggering after his division ; while 
his glazed eye, uncertain motion, and stumbhng gait, excited 
the fear of some, and the ridicule of others. — '" His account is 
made up,' said one of his companions, as he reeled about 
amongst them. ' He will not make a long march of it,' said 
another: and when, after several falls, he at length became 
unable to rise, the observation that ' he had taken up his quar- 
ters,' was all the sympathy that it was thought necessary to 
express." 

The spirits of the French army soon recovered from the de- 
jection, caused by the late reverse. They marched against a 
body of Turks, who had landed, under Mustapha Bey, on the 
peninsula of Aboukir ; and, after a campaign of fifteen days, 
destroyed nearly the whole of an army of eighteen-thousand 
men. 

Mustapha Bey was taken, and carried, in triumph, to the 
tent of Buonaparte. — The Turkish chieftain had not lost his 
spirit, with his fortunes — " I will take care to inform the sultan," 
said the victor, meaning to be courteous, " of the courage you 
displayed in this battle ; though it has been your mishap to lose 



80 THE LIFE OF 

it." — "Thou may'st save thyself the trouble," answered the 
prisoner, in a haughty tone : " my master knows me better 
than thou canst." 

This last series of victories terminated the exploits of Buona- 
parte, in Egypt ; for whom, fortune was preparing a more ex- 
alted destiny, in another quarter of the globe. Astonished, at 
receiving intelligence of a new war, which had broken out, in 
Europe, as well as of the numerous disasters by which it had 
been attended, he conceived the romantic project of returning 
to France, to enable her, once more, to triumph over her ene- 
mies, by heahng the distractions of her councils, and elevating 
himself to empire. Having assigned the command of his army 
to general Kleber, he embarked, suddenly, on the twenty-fourth 
of August, accompanied by generals Berthier, Lasnes, and 
Marmont; Bessieres, Andreossi, and Murat; and attended by 
several Mamelukes, the future guards of his person ; and, by 
that singular good fortune, to which he had been so frequently 
indebted, he escaped, repeatedly, from the vigilance of the hos- 
tile cruisers, passed unsuspected through an English squadron; 
and having landed near Frejus, on the sixteenth of October he 
entered Paris. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONSULATE PEACE OF AMIENS» 

1799—1804. 

The directorial government had been rapidly approaching 
its dissolution. Intrigue and corruption had impressed the 
infant constitution of the republic, with all the decrepitude of 
age. The vengeance of the Opposition, of which the abbe 
Sieyes was considered as the head, appeared to be levelled 
against the three directors. Merlin, Depaux, and Treilhard. 
Barras, though equally corrupt, had sheltered himself from the 
coming storm, by seconding the project of Sieyes ; and, in 
place of the obnoxious members, there had been elected, Go- 
hier, Roger Ducos, and Mouhn. About the end of August, 
an insurrection had broken out, in the department of Mayenne; 
and, so rapidly did the spirit of insurrection spread, in a short 
time, no less than nineteen other departments, had raised the 
standard of revolt. 



NAPOLEON. 81 

Amid these complicated disorders, general Buonaparte ar- 
rived from Egypt, and was received, at Paris, with every de- 
monstration of public favour. Various secret conferences were 
promptly held ; at which, were present, Sieyes and Ducos — 
two of the directors — together with Talleyrand, Volney, and 
Buonaparte, and also his brothers, Lucien and Joseph. 

In the mean time. Napoleon seemed to devote his attention 
exclusively to literature ; and, having exchanged the usual vis- 
its of form with the ministers of the republic, he was more fre- 
quently to be found at the Institute, or discussing with Volney 
and other men of letters, the information acquired by him, in 
Egypt, on science and antiquities, than in the haunts of poli- 
ticians, or the society of the leaders of either party in the state. 
Nor was he to be seen at the places of popular resort : he went 
into no general company, seldom attended the theatres, and, 
when he did visit any of them, he took his seat in a private 
box. 

To the military, his conduct seemed equally reserved : he 
held no levees, attended no reviews, and, while all ranks strove 
who could honour him the most, he turned, in silence, from 
their applause. In all this, there was deep policy evinced. 
Under this reserved, and apparently indifferent demeanour. Na- 
poleon was secretly employed in collecting all the information 
necessary, concerning the designs and the powers of the va- 
rious parties in the state ; and, as each was eager to gain his 
countenance and support, he experienced no difficulty in obtain- 
ing information upon every essential point. 

The plot was at length matured, the drama was prepared 
for exhibition, and the curtain raised. At eight o'clock, on 
the morning of the ninth of November, one-hundred-and-fifly 
of the council of elders, selected by the revolutionists, and 
containing none of the violent Jacobin party, assembled, at the 
Tuileries. Buonaparte, having been appointed, by an almost 
unanimous vote, commander of all the forces, entered the hall, 
and, taking his station at the bar, — " Citizen Representatives,'* 
said he, " the republic was perishing, but your decree has res- 
cued it from destruction. Wo be to those men, who wish for 
anarchy ! Aided by my brave companions in arms, I will arrest 
their course. Let us not seek, in the past, for examples to 
retard your progress. Nothing, in history, resembles the 
conclusion of the eighteenth century; and nothing, in the 
eighteenth century, resembles the decisions of the present mo- 
ment. Your wisdom has issued this decree ; our arms shall 
execute it. We demand a republic, founded on a just basis — 



82 THE LIFE OF 

on true liberty — and we will have it. We will have it! I swear 
it, in my own name, and in the name of my brave comrades." 

The instant the president had concluded a short reply, Buo- 
naparte surrounded the Tuileries, with ten-thousand troops. 

Barras, who had, for some time, refused to resign his office, 
was exiled to his country-seat. Before his departure, he sent 
in his resignation, to Buonaparte, by his secretary, Botot; who, 
on handing the paper to the general, inquired, in a low tone, 
what Barras had to expect from him. — " Tell that man," said 
Buonaparte, " that I desire to hear no more from him ; and 
that I will cause the authority, with which I am intrusted, to 
be respected." — Then, raising his voice, loud enough to be 
heard, even in the ante-chamber, he continued thus to address 
the astonished secretary: — "What have you done," said he, 
" with the country which I left so flourishing ? I left you at 
peace — 1 have found you at war : I left you victory — I have 
found defeat : I left you conquest — the enemy are passing our 
frontiers : I left you the treasures of Italy, and I find nothing 
but oppression and poverty. Where are the hundred-thousand 
heroes, my companions in arms, whom I left covered with 
glory ? What is become of them ? Alas, they are no more I 
This state of things cannot continue : — in three years, it would 
end in despotism ; but, we will have a republic, founded on the 
basis of equality, civil liberty, and toleration." 

The manner of this sententious philippic, invites our obser- 
vation. It is evident, that, even then, in the very dawn of his 
elevation, when his enterprise was only commenced, Buona- 
parte had assumed that tone, which seemed to account every 
one answerable to him alone, for delinquencies in the public 
service, and himself responsible to no one. 

The following day gave birth to events of no less importance, 
than the preceding. The castle of St. Cloud — distant about 
fifteen miles from Paris, to which the legislative sittings were 
now removed — was surrounded by troops, in the morning, be- 
fore day-break; and the council of five-hundred, as well as the 
council of ancients, assembled there, at two o'clock in the 
afternoon. In the former body, the proceedings were opened 
by Gaudin; who proposed that a committee of seven members 
should be appointed, to consider the best means of providing 
for the public safety. This motion was vehemently opposed, 
by several members of the Jacobin party, who, darting forward 
into the tribune, exclaimed, — "Down with the dictators" — 
"The constitution, or death!" — These exclamations were fol- 
lowed by a motion, that every member should renew his oath 



NAPOLEON. 83 

to preserve the constitution of the third year ; which was car- 
ried by acclamation. No sooner had the ceremony of renew- 
ing the oath been performed, than another violent debate arose, 
upon the motion that the assembly should proceed to the elec- 
tion of a new director, to supply the vacancy occasioned by 
the resignation of Barras. 

Informed of this tumultuous discussion, Buonaparte repaired, 
with great agitation, to the council of elders, and thus address- 
ed them : — 

" Representatives op the People ! 

"You are placed in no common circumstances: you are on 
the mouth of a volcano, which is ready to devour you. Permit 
me to speak to you, with the frankness of a soldier, and the 
ardour of a citizen, zealous for the welfare of his country. 

"I was living peaceably at Paris, when I received your de- 
cree; but, when I was informed of your dangers, I hastened to 
your assistance, with my brethren in arms. Is not the blood 
that we have shed, a sufficient guarantee for our attachment 
to the republic, and for the purity and disinterestedness of our 
motives ? Have they, who dare to lift their voices against us, 
given stronger pledges? As a reward for our services, they 
load us with calumnies, and talk of a modern Cassar, and a 
second Cromwell. They speak of a military government, and 
exclaim against conspiracies. Alas! the most dangerous of 
all conspiracies, is that which every where surrounds us, — that 
of continually increasing the public misery. Have not igno- 
rance, folly, and treason, reigned long enough in our country? 
Have they not committed sufficient ravages? Have they not, 
in succession, inflicted misery upon every class of the commu- 
nity? Have not Frenchmen been divided long enough into 
parties, eager and desirous to oppress each other? The time is 
at length arrived, to put an end to these disasters. You have 
charged me to present you with the means, and I will not dis- 
appoint you. I wish to serve the French people. Let us not 
then be divided. Unite your wisdom and firmness to the force 
with which I am surrounded, and I will devote myself to the 
safety of the republic." 

" And to the safety of the constitution," exclaimed Moreau 
de I'Youne. 

" The constitution !" replied Buonaparte, with indignant 
warmth: — " do not name it. What is the constitution, but a 
heap of ruins? Has it not been successively the sport of every 
party ? The constitution ! — has not every kind of tyranny been 
exercised in its name ? Who has, or who can be safe, under its 



84 THE LIFE OF 

delusive protection ? Is not its insufficiency manifested, by the 
numerous crimes which have been committed, in its name, 
even by those who are swearing to it a contemptuous fidelity? 
All the rights of the people have been violated. To re-estab- 
lish those rights on a firm foundation, we must labour to con- 
solidate the republic, and to secure the liberty of France. As 
soon as these objects have been attained, and the dangers of 
the country have subsided, I will abdicate the command which 
has been committed to me, and will become the supporting 
arm of whatever magistracy you may think proper to appoint." 

Cornudet here confirmed the assertions of Buonaparte, and 
said, '* I am acquainted with some criminal opinions entertained 
of the general, which can be developed and discussed only in 
the absence of strangers." On this intimation, the auditors 
were ordered to withdraw, and, as soon as the hall was cleared, 
Buonaparte continued: — "Criminal opinions!" he exclaimed, 
" I could reveal to you circumstances which would confound 
my calumniators. But it is enough to tell you, that two of 
your late magistrates, Barras and Moulin, themselves, advised 
me to overturn the government, and to put myself at the head 
of affairs. I repulsed their overtures, because liberty is dearer 
to me than life. Several factions have tendered to me their 
services ; but I have rejected all their advances, as unworthy 
the ear of a republican. I speak with the frankness of a sol- 
dier. I am a stranger to the art of eloquence ; I have always 
followed the god of war ; and fortune and the god of war are 
with me. Be not afraid, representatives of the people, of crim- 
inal plots. I and my brave comrades shall ever be ready to de- 
fend you, and to support the republic. ( Then, glancing his eyes 
towards the soldiers who were on duty within the walls, he cried) 
— I appeal to you, fellow-soldiers — you, before whom the Jaco- 
bins desire to make me appear the enemy of liberty — you, who 
have so often been employed under me, in laying the foundation 
of republics; and, should you ever behold me abandon the cause 
of liberty, I intreat you to turn those dreadful bayonets, which 
have been so often directed to the shame and confusion of our 
enemies, against my own breast. — Representatives! I conjure 
you to adopt the most prompt and energetic measures to s^ve 
the country." 

Having retired from the council of elders, Buonaparte sud- 
denly entered the hall of the council of five-hundred, accompa- 
nied by four grenadiers, without arms. The members were 
instantly in motion. — "A general here!" they exclaimed: 
"Down with the tyrant! Outlaw the dictator ! Kill him, kill 



NAPOLEON. 85 

him '." — Several of the members, rushing towards him, seized 
him by the collar ; and one of them aimed a blow at him, with 
a dagger, which Thome, a grenadier, parried, with his arm. 
The general, with all his heroism, stood, for a moment, aston- 
ished, and speechless: he had expected opposition, but was 
not prepared for a scene of so frantic violence. He had never, 
before, been exposed to so immediate peril. General Lefebre, 
at length, rushed into the hall, followed by a body of grenadiers, 
with drawn swords ; who, having extricated Buonaparte from 
the grasp of the deputies, bore him off', breathless, in their 
arms. — The assembly had now become a mob. The president, 
Lucien Buonaparte, was assailed, on every side. His author- 
ity being no longer regarded, and his hfe subjected to the most 
imminent danger, he threw himself from his chair; and, having' 
placed his toga and scarf upon the bench, rushed towards the 
tribune; tears of agony and indignation starting from his eyes. 
Pistols and poniards were aimed at his breast, to compel him 
to resume his office, and pronounce a decree of outlawry 
against his brother; but, he remained inflexible; and Lefebre, 
being, at that moment, deputed by Napoleon, entered the hall, 
with a party of soldiers, and conducted him, in safety, to the 
palace-court. Here, Lucien addressed the military, in glowing 
language, condemning the desperate conduct of the council ; 
and, at the conclusion of his harangue, was greeted with the 
approving shouts of " Long live the republic — long live Buona- 
parte!" 

The general now ordered Murat to enter the hall of the 
council of five-hundred, with some troops. The voices of the 
speakers were overpowered, by the beat of drums; the grena- 
diers brought their muskets to the charge; a dreadful scene 
of alarm, arose; some members rushed out through the doors, 
some leaped from the windows; and the hall was cleared, as 
speedily as Cromwell had dispersed the long-parliament of 
England. 

This was the last democratical assembly, in France. The 
directorial government was now defunct. The revolution pro- 
ceeded rapidly, towards its consummation. A consular com- 
mittee was appointed ; consisting of the ex-directors, Sieyes 
and Ducos, and Buonaparte himself; who, though his name 
appears the last, in order, was certainly not the least, in power. 

Astonished to hear his young military colleague, on the very 
first conference, discussing questions relative to finance, admin- 
istrations, the army, law, and politics, Sieyes left him quite dis- 
concerted, and ran to his friends, saving, — "Gentlemen, you 

H 



86 THE LIFE OF 

have got a master ! This man knows every thing, wants every 
thing, and can do every thing." 

At length, the new constitution was completed ; and, on the 
twenty-ninth day of December, was proclaimed at Paris. It 
had been submitted to the citizens of the French republic; and 
approved by more than three-millions ; while the votes against 
its acceptance, amounted only to about fifteen-hundred. A 
more complicated, Utopian, and impracticable form of govern- 
ment, was never, in our opinion, constructed, in any age. It 
consisted of a conservative senate, of eighty members ; thirty- 
one of whom were chosen by four commissioners, named in 
the constitution ; the remainder being appointed by itself; all 
holding their offices for life : — a tribunate, of one-hundred 
members, elected by the senate ; a legislative body, of three- 
hundred, indirectly chosen by the people; and finally, three 
consuls, elected, by the senate, for ten years, from a national 
list, transmitted by the several departments. General Buona- 
parte was appointed first consul; Cambaceres, the second; 
Le Brun, the third. The whole executive authority was vested 
in the first; the other two being allowed only to advise, without 
having the power of a controlhng vote. 

The duty of the legislative body, was, to take into consider- 
ation, such laws as had been approved by the tribunate ; and 
pass, or reject them, by a silent vote, without any debate, or 
any expression of opinion. The tribunate, on the contrary, 
was permitted the use of speech, and were to discuss such laws 
as were committed to them, by the consuls ; to whom, alone, 
belonged the privilege of originating every subject of legislation. 

But the people were eased of the constitutional burthen of 
election. Without waiting for the lists of eligible persons, or 
following any other rule than his own pleasure, Buonaparte 
named sixty senators ; the senate named a hundred tribunes, 
and three-hundred legislators ; and thus, the whole metaphys- 
ical engine — the fabric chiefly of the abbe Sieyes — was set in 
motion, by a choice emanating from the executive government, 
instead of receiving its primary impulse from the nation. 

At this critical period, these despotic measures were perhaps 
advantageous to the country. The strong arm of despotism 
seemed necessary, to restrain the violence of faction ; and, 
whatever may have been his ultimate intention, Buonaparte 
was, at this time, a blessing, to afflicted France. 

The monarchy of England, has been called " a republic, in 
disguise:" — the republic of France might now, with an equal 
degree of truth, be styled "a monarchy, in disguise;" for, with 



NAPOLEON. 87 

the semblance of limitation, no executive authority, was ever, 
in reality, more absolute. 

Lucien Buonaparte was constituted minister of the interior; 
Talleyrand and Carnot were reinstated in their respective 
offices, of minister for foreign affairs, and minister of war ; and 
Fouche, in that of superintendent of police. 

The revolution, which had thus concluded, was one of force, 
without bloodshed. Not a single life had been sacrificed, 
during this momentous change. Regularity succeeded to 
disorder; the military and civil institutions were essentially 
amended, or re-organized ; animation was restored to the tri- 
bunals of justice ; and many virtuous and useful citizens, who 
had been exiled, by former administrations, were recalled. 
The wise policy and mildness of the consular government, dis- 
played itself, also, in the termination of proscriptions against 
the catholic priests ; in the re-opening of the churches, through- 
out France ; and in the permission given to Lafayette, Latour 
Maubourg, and others, who had been exiled, for not carrying 
their principles of freedom to extravagance, to return to their 
native country. 

The exiled royal family, also entertained a hope of being 
recalled to France. ■ The individual who styled himself Louis 
XVIIL, wrote a most elaborate letter to the first consul, con- 
taining the following expressions : — " You delay long to restore 
me to my throne. It is to be feared, that you may allow fa- 
vourable moments to escape. You cannot complete the hap- 
piness of France without me, nor can I serve France without 
you. Hasten, then, and specify, yourself, the places which 
you would wish your friends to possess." 

To this letter, the first consul replied : — " I have received 
your royal highness's letter ; I have always felt deep interest 
in your misfortunes, and those of your family. You must not 
think of appearing in France ; you could not do so without 
passing over a hundred thousand dead bodies. I shall, how- 
ever, be always eager to do every thing that may tend to alle- 
viate your fate, or enable you to forget your misfortunes." 

The overtures made by the count d'Artois, possessed still 
more elegance and address. He commissioned, as the bearer 
of his propositions, the duchess de Guiche ; a lady whose fas- 
cinating manners and personal graces were calculated to assist 
her in the important negotiation. She easily gained access to 
madame Buonaparte, with whom all the individuals of the old 
court came easily in contact. She breakfasted with her, at 
Malmaison ; and the conversation turning upon London, the 



88 THE LIFE OF 

emigrants, and the French princes, the duchess mentioned, 
that, as she happened, a few days before, to be at the house of 
the count d'Artois, she had heard some person ask the prince, 
what he intended to do for the first consul, in the event of his 
restoring the Bourbons ; and that the prince had replied, — " I 
would immediately make him constable of the kingdom, and 
every thing else he might choose. But even that would not 
be enough : we would raise, on the Carousel, a lofty and-mag- 
nificent column, surmounted with a statue of Buonaparte 
crowning the Bourbons." 

The first consul entered shortly after breakfast, when Jo- 
sephine eagerly repeated the circumstance related by the duch- 
ess. "And did you not reply," said her husband, "that the 
corpse of the first consul would have been made the pedestal 
of the column?" — The charming duchess de Guiche was still 
present ; the beauties of her countenance, her eyes and her 
words, were directed to the success of her commission. She 
said she was dehghted ; she knew not how she would ever be 
able sufficiently to acknowledge the favour which madame 
Buonaparte had procured her, of seeing and hearing so distin- 
guished a man — so great a hero. 

It was all in vain : the duchess received orders, that very 
night, to quit Paris. The charms of the emissary were calcu- 
lated rather to alarm Josephine, than to induce her to say any 
thing very urgent in her favour, and the next day the duchess 
was on her way to the frontier. 
. orvn Having, in a great measure, united, in his own per- 
*" ' son, the whole power, both civil and military, the, first 
consul determined to enter upon negotiations for peace. A 
proposal, made to the court of Vienna, having been unsuccess- 
ful, he next addressed a letter to the king of England; which,, 
however, was treated in a manner but ill corresponding with 
the apparent sincerity of the pacific offer ; lord Grenville, the 
Britisli minister, intimating, in the reply, that no treaty of 
peace Vv^ould be entertained, unless on condition that the crown 
of France should be restored to the legitimate heir of the house 
of Bourbon. 

A division, which, at this critical period, occurred, in the 
cabinet of Vienna, proved extremely inauspicious to the house 
of Austria. Finding himself thwarted in his plans, the arch- 
duke Charles resigned the command of the imperial forces, 
and was succeeded by field-marshal Kray; who was left to 
defend Germany, with an ill-appointed army. Moreau allowed 
not so favourable an opportunity^ to pass, unemployed. With: 



NAPOLEON. 89 

his usual activity, he attacked the enemy, and, after many ob- 
stinate engagements, having compelled the field-marshal to 
seek refuge under the cannon of Ulm, he penetrated into the 
heart of Germany ; and, by the constant alarm of his maneu- 
vres, the emperor, being uncertain as to the ultimate design 
of so enterprising a commander, was prevented from sending 
supphes iuto Italy ; nou^ become the theatre of a mighty con- 
test, which was to decide the fate of Europe. 

Here, the first consul determined to assume the leading 
character, himself He suddenly left Paris, on the third of 
May ; and, at the expiration of six days, reviewed his troops, 
in the neighbourhood of Lusanne ; having previously induced 
the enemy to expect, that he intended to proceed into Italy, at 
the head of a small army, assembled, for the purpose of decep- 
tion, at Dijon. But, before he could reach the valley of Aosta, 
in Piedmont, it was necessary to traverse eighty English miles 
of a mountainous region, nearly impervious to man ; and over 
which no carriage, of any kind, had ever passed. Buonaparte, 
however, was not dismayed, either by the difficulty or the dan- 
ger. He determined, not only to march his army, of sixty- 
thousand men, across the great St. Bernard, the highest of the 
aerial ridges of the Alps, but also to conduct ammunition, pro- 
visions, and even artillery, by this route ; although the soldiers, 
from the narrowness of the path, must be obliged to proceed 
in single files. 

On the fifteenth of May, the army was put in motion. Buo- 
naparte set out a considerable time after the march had begun, 
accompanied by no one, except his guide ; wearing his usual 
simple dress — a grey surtout, and small three-cornered hat. 
He travelled in silence, interrupted, at distant intervals, by a 
few short and hasty questions, about the country. The only 
part of his conversation, which his guide remembered, was, 
when, shaking the rain-water from his hat, he exclaimed — • 
" There, see what I have done, in your mountains — spoiled my 
new hat. Well! I will find another, on the other side." 

An offer had been made, by sound of trumpet, in the town 
of St. Pierre, that a reward, of from six-hundred to a thousand 
livres, would be given, for the conveyance of each piece of 
cannon, over the mountain. A crowd of peasants flocked, from 
every quarter, with beasts of burthen. The soldiers united 
their efforts, with those of the rustics ; and contributed to 
achieve the most arduous undertaking. General Marmont 
ordered trees to be felled, and hollowed, in such a manner, as 
to form a bed, for the eight-pounders and mortars. To each 

H2 



90 THE LIFE OF 

of these vehicles, were attached one-hundred men, harnessed- 
with ropes; while others, with levers, prevented them from 
falling over the craggy summits ; and sledges, also, were con- 
trived, which supported cannon of a larger size. The gun- 
carriages were taken asunder, and carried in separate parts, 
except those belonging to four-pounders, which were borne on 
a sort of litter, by ten men. The cavalry led their horses ; and, 
as the arms and accoutrements of one-half of the soldiers, who 
w(^'e in harness, had to be carried by the others, each of the 
latter was burthened with a weight of not less than seventy 
pounds.' The musical bands occasionally played enlivening 
tunes; and, at places of unusual difficulty, the drums reminded 
the soldiers of their former conquests, by the animating charge. 
Above them, they beheld everlasting snow ; below them, were 
the clouds. — Fainting, with fatigue, they at length reached the 
summit of St. Bernard ; where they found refreshments, pre- 
pared for them, by the hospitable monks ; who gave, to each 
soldier, as he passed, some bread and cheese, and a cup of 
wine. The difficulties were now almost surmounted. Though 
several horses fell over the precipices, the descent to Verney, 
the first village of Piedmont, was accomplished with less exer- 
tion. Some of the men glided along the surface of the polished 
snow ; Buonaparte himself being the first to set the example 
of this new mode of descending into the Italian plains. 

Such, was this celebrated passage of the Alps. On the 
eighteenth of May, after three days of unexampled peril and 
fatigue, the advanced guard, commanded by general Lasnesy 
took possession of Aosta. 

A "representation of this exploit — which, considering that 
Buonaparte had to convey cannon with him, over that precipitous 
route—far surpasses the famous crossing of the Alps, by Han- 
nibal, — was painted, by the great French artist, David ; and, 
many years afterwards, brought, by Joseph Buonaparte, to the 
United States. 

Now commenced, a most brilliant series of achievements. 
At Milan, the first consul having been joined, by general Mon- 
cey, with eighteen-thousand men, he soon became master of 
Lodi, Brescia, Placentia, Pavia, and Cremona ; and, on the 
fourteenth of June, defeated the imperial general, Melas, at 
Marengo. At the latter place, however, the good fortune of 
the French commander,, appeared, for a while, to have deserted 
him. Victory seemed to have declared in favour of his oppo- 
nent. Melas, whose head was whitened by a life of eighty 
years, ha,d nearly wrested, from the destroyer of his country* 



NAPOLEON. 91 

men, the laurel crown. After twelve successive charges, the 
Austrian cavalry had routed the centre and the left wing of the 
French army ; and compelled the right to retire, for safety, to 
St. Julian ; and, had it not been for the opportune arrival of 
the reserve, under general Dessaix, the sun of the first consul's 
glory, would, perhaps, have set, for ever. The gallant Dessaix, 
having opposed his division, as a barrier against the pursuing 
enemy, afforded time to the scattered forces to resume their 
order; when he received a mortal wound, from a musket-ball; 
exclaiming, with his expiring breath, — " I die with this regret, 
only — that I have not done enough, to live in the remembrance 
of my country." 

Never w^as any combat more obstinate. Never was any 
victory more pertinaciously disputed. The two armies, con- 
sisting of one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand men, were engaged 
for fourteen hours ; and fought, during a considerable part of 
this time, within musket-shot. The loss of the Austrians, in 
slain, wounded, and prisoners, was fifteen-thousand men ; that 
of the French, about six-thousand. 

Since the battle of Pavia, nearly three centuries before, in 
which, Francis I. was taken prisoner, by the troops of Charles 
v., no battle had been productive of greater events, than the 
battle of Marengo. Two days afterwards, not fewer than 
twelve fortified towns, were delivered to the French ; general 
Melas was constrained to propose a truce ; and the first consul, 
after a brilliant campaign of only two months, assigned the 
command of his army to Massena, and returned to Paris. 

Nor were the French, at this period, less formidable on the 
Danube. No sooner had Moreau received intelligence of the 
decisive victory of Marengo, than he determined to penetrate 
into the hereditary states of the house of Austria. On the 
nineteenth of June, he defeated general Starray, on the plains 
of Blenheim — already famous, for the victory obtained, there, 
over Marshal Tallard, by the duke of Marlborough — and, after 
many intermediate successes, routed an army, commanded by 
the archduke John, at Hohenlinden, with a loss, on the part of 
tiie latter, of ten-thousand men. 

At no period of its history, was the existence of the Austrian 
monarchy in greater hazard. After the signal victory at Hohen- 
linden, the French army crossed the Inn, and, arriving at Stey- 
er, was within seventeen leagues of Vienna. The Gallo-Bata- 
vian troops, at the same time, approached the hereditary states, 
by advancing along the Danube : Macdonald, in possession of 
the Tyrol, had the option of descending either into Italy of 



92 THE LIFE OF 

Germany ; while Brune, after a campaign of only twenty days, 
during which he had taken fifteen-thousand prisoners, block- 
aded Mantua, and was ready to penetrate into the mountains 
of Carinthia, to form a junction with the victorious legions of 
Moreau. 

Having previously obtained the consent of the English min- 
istry, the emperor Francis solicited the French government, 
that he might be allowed to conclude a separate peace. The 
conditions were, indeed, severe ; but, as he was now in a worse 
situation, than at the treaty of Leoben, he was constrained to 
yield. By a definitive treaty, signed at Luneville, on the ninth 
of February, in the following year — Joseph Buonaparte, acting 
as plenipotentiary on the part of France, and the count Co- 
bentzel, for the house of Austria — Mantua, and many other 
important cities of Italy, were ceded to the republic ; together 
with the Austrian Netherlands, and the whole left bank of the 
Rhine : all the principal articles in the treaty of Campo-Formio, 
were confirmed ; and the dutchy of Tuscany, the hereditary 
dominions of the brother of Francis, now converted into a king- 
dom, under the appellation of Etruria, was given to the duke 
of Parma, of the house of Bourbon, assuming the title of Fran- 
cis I. 

The naval power of England had never shone more conspic- 
uously, than during the present contest. So decided had been 
her superiority, on the ocean, since the commencement of the 
war, that she had taken not less than three-hundred-and-twenty 
armed vessels, from the French, and eighty-nine from the Span- 
iards ; of which, seventy-eight were of the line : — while, on the 
other hand, only fifty had been captured from the English ; and 
of these, only three were of a class as large as a frigate. 

Though baffled in their attempts upon Quiberon and Cadiz, 
the British, navy had better fortune in the reduction of Malta. 
After a blockade of two years, the garrison having exhausted 
their provisions, were constrained, on the fifteenth of Septem- 
ber, to surrender that important station, to an English fleet. 

But, amidst these successes, a storm was gathering, against 
Britain, in the north. The conduct of the northern sovereigns, 
began to arouse the jealousy of England. In the early part of 
the contest, against the French republic. Great Britain had 
enjoyed the secret or avowed approbation of every neighbour- 
ing court : but the scene was now changed ; and that country, 
which had commenced the war with all the states of Europe as 
her allies, now beheld the majority leagued against her naval 
ascendancy, and intent upon the reduction of her power. The 



NAPOLEON. 9$ 

maritime states complained, that their neutrality was no longer 
respected ; that their shores and harbours were insulted, by the 
British cruisers ; and that even their ships of war, were not 
allowed to afford protection to the merchant-vessels, intrusted 
to their charge. Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, were 
loud in preferring their complaints. They entered into an 
association, for their mutual protection; revived a treaty of 
" armed neutrality," which had originated with Russia, near 
the close of the American war; and formed additional regula- 
tions, for the extension and security of their commerce. They 
maintained, that any neutral ship might freely navigate on the 
coasts of the belligerent powers; and that every thing not ex- 
pressly contraband, should be free; that the declaration of offi- 
cers, commanding ships of war, convoying merchant-vessels, 
should be deemed a sufficient satisfaction, as to the description 
of their cargoes ; that no search should be permitted, when a 
vessel was under convoy ; — and, to protect the trade of their 
respective kingdoms, the contracting parties agreed to provide 
ipni ^ squadron. The emperor of Russia carried his resent- 
ment further. He sequestrated all the British vessels, 
in his ports ; ordered those detained in the harbour of Narva, 
to be burned, in consequence of the escape of two vessels, in 
contravention of his decrees ; and declared that the sequestra- 
tion should not be removed, until Malta were delivered to him, 
in conformity with a convention, concluded in the year 1798. 
But, to this requisition, the British ministry thought it not pru- 
dent to accede. After the defeat of Suwarrow, Paul had with- 
drawn from co-operation with the Austrians; and had even 
courted the favour of the first consul, for whose character he 
professed an extraordinary degree of admiration. To enforce 
the compact, great preparations were made, in all the northern 
ports ; and, on the thirtieth day of March, the Prussian mon- 
arch took possession of Hanover, the hereditary dominion of 
the king of England. 

To dispel this formidable alliance, the British government 
was not tardy, in despatching a sufficient force. Eighteen 
ships of the line, with a due accompaniment of frigates and 
gun-boats, under the chief command of sir Hyde Parker, but 
led into action by lord Nelson, attacked the batteries of Copen- 
hagen, on the second of April ; and, after an action of five 
hours' duration, more terrible than even the battle of Aboukir, 
in which the Danes evinced an heroic gallantry, worthy of their 
ancient fame, the crown-prince, in order to prevent the de- 
struction of every thing within the reach of the British fire, 



94 THE LIFE OF 

agreed to suspend the operations of the armed neutrality, as 
far as related to Denmark. 

Seventeen vessels of the line, were sunk, burned, or taken 
Yet, the condition of the assailants, was, at one period of the 
attack, so hopeless, that admiral Parker exhibited a signal, 
ordering the vessels to withdraw. This, however, lord Nelson 
thought proper to disobey. He was then walking on the 
quarter-deck, and said to captain Foley, with considerable agi- 
tation — " Do you see what's shown on board the commander- 
in-chief?" — " Why, to leave oif action !" — " Leave off action !" 
he repeated; and then added, with a shrug — " Now, d — n me, 
if I do. You know, Foley," added he " I have only one eye, 
and have a right to be blind sometimes;" and then, with an 
archness, pecuUar to his character, putting the glass to his 
blind eye, he exclaimed — -" I really don't see the signal." 

The moral justice of this mode of negotiation, may well be 
questioned. All further diplomacy, however, of the same kind, 
was unexpectedly prevented, by the death of the emperor Paul ; 
who fell, by the hands of his indignant courtiers, on the twenty- 
second of March. His son and successor, Alexander I., was 
a prince of much greater talents, and of a most amiable dispo- 
sition : — by his interference, the confederacy against England 
was dissolved, and the strictness of the rules, with regard to 
the right of search, in some degree relaxed. 

The better fortune of the first consul, prevented him from 
falling a victim to a new mode of assassination. The ever- 
watchful eye of the French police, had defeated a counter-revo- 
lution, attempted, towards the close of the preceding year, by 
the royalists ; of whom, Pichegru was the chief; but his de- 
struction, by the explosion of a contrivance, called, afterwards, 
the " infernal machine," was averted solely by the effect of 
chance. On the evening of the third Nivose, as the first consul 
was proceeding, in his carriage, to the opera, he passed through 
the Rue Vicaise, a narrow street, in which stood a cart, contain- 
ing a barrel, resembhng that in which water is carried through 
the streets of Paris, filled with gunpowder and grape-shot, and 
placed in such a situation, as almost to obstruct the way. The 
coachman, being in a state of intoxication, drove with unusual 
rapidity ; but he had passed the car only a few seconds, when 
it exploded, with dreadful effect ; nearly demolished several 
adjacent houses, killed twenty persons, and wounded above 
fifty ; amongst the latter, a person named St. Regent, who had 
fired the match. Buonaparte, who had been, at this time, 
asleep, dreaming, as he has informed us, of the danger he had 



NAPOLEON. 9S 

escaped, in passing the Tagliamento, some years before, in- 
stantly exclaimed, to Lasnes and Bessieres, who were v/ith 
him, — " We are blown up !" — The attendants would have 
stopped the carriage ; but, with more presence of mind, the 
consul ordered them to drive on, and arrived safely at the 
opera; his coachman, entirely ignorant of what had occurred, 
but conceiving that his master had only been saluted by a dis- 
charge of cannon. 

The police collected all the remnants of the cart and the 
machine, and invited all the workmen of Paris to view them. 
The pieces were recognized by several. One said, I made 
this — another, that — and all agreed that they had sold them to 
two men, who, by their accent, they knew to be Bas Bretons; 
but nothing more could, by this means, be ascertained. Shortly 
afterwards, the hackney coachmen and other persons of that 
description, gave a great dinner, in the Champs Elysee, to 
Cesar, the first consul's coachman ; thinking that he had saved 
the consul's life, by his skill and activity, at the moment of the 
explosion. At this dinner, they all " took their bottle freely," 
and drank to Cesar's health. One of them, when drunk, said, 
" Cesar, I know the men who tried to blow the first consul up, 
the other day. In such a street, and such a house (naming 
them,) I saw, on that day, a cart, like a water-cart, coming 
out of a passage, which attracted my attention, as I never had 
seen one there before. I observed the men and the horse, and 
would know them again." — The minister of the police was 
called, the informant was interrogated, and brought the officers 
to the house which he had mentioned ; where they found the 
measure with which the conspirators had put the powder into 
the barrel, with some of the powder still adhering to it. A 
httle was also found scattered about. The master of the house, 
on being questioned, said, that there had been three persons 
there, for some time, whom he took to be sinugglers ; that, on 
the day in question, they had gone out with the cart, which he 
thought contained a load of smuggled goods. He added that 
they were Bas Bretons, and that one of them appeared to be 
master over the other two. Having now a description of their 
persons, every search was made, and St. Regent and another 
of the assassins, named Carbon, were taken, tried, and executed. 

It was a singular circumstance, that an inspector of police 
had noticed the cart standing, at the corner of the street, for a 
long time, and had ordered the person who was with it, to drive 
it away ; but he made some excuse, and said that there was 
plenty of room, and the other, seeing it was a water-cart, with 



96 THE LIFE OF 

a miserable horse, not worth twenty francs, did not suspect any 
mischief. 

But, although invested witji supreme authority, on the banks 
of the Seine, the first consul could not recollect the borders of 
the Nile, without a pang. Abandoned to their fate, cut off 
from all communication with their native land, the army of 
Egypt considered the conduct of their former leader as treach- 
erous, and loaded him with execrations. The grand vizier 
assembled a new army, for the purpose of recovering the con- 
quered provinces of his master ; and the pachas were repair- 
ing, to his standard, from every quarter of Asiatic Turkey. 
Very different, were the resources of the French. Within the 
space of a single year, one-third of Kleber's forces had been 
destroyed ; and it became, at length, difficult for him to as- 
semble, at any one point, more than ten-thousand men. His 
antagonists, at the same time, had concentrated more than 
eighty thousand ; and, after a siege of a few days, obtained the 
surrender of El Arish. Meanwhile, a treaty was discussing, 
between the French general and sir Sydney Smith ; which was 
at length concluded, on terms highly favourable, both to the 
Turkish government and the French ; for, while the latter 
were allowed to return home, with the undiminished honours 
of war, Egypt was to be restored to the Ottoman Porte. 

This convention, however, the British ministers refused to 
ratify. They judged it impolitic, to allow so many veteran 
troops, to be reconducted to the European continent ; and 
there, again, oppose their own armies, in the field ; — or, what 
is more likely, they reserved the plains of Egypt, as a theatre, 
on which to retrieve the character of the British army; sacri- 
ficed, by William Pitt, and his no less visionary associates in 
the cabinet, to a diffusive scheme of land-operations, more 
frivolous than any that were ever planned, in any age : — they 
therefore resolved to send a powerful army into Egypt, and 
cause the Flench troops to evacuate the disputed province ; 
not as men emancipated by a treaty, but as prisoners of war. 

To command the British forces, they selected one of the first 
soldiers of their army — the veteran Abercrombie — accompa- 
nied by subordinate generals, not surpassed in gallantry, how- 
ever they might be in experience, by the ablest officers of the 
Buonapartean school of war. Besides the chivalric Smith, the 
commander-in-chief was aided by generals Hutchinson and 
Moore ; Ludlow, Coote, and Craddock ; lord Cavan, Doyle, 
and Stuart. Of these officers, the only Englishmen were Stuart 
and sir Sydney Smith : Abercrombie and Moore were natives 



NAPOLEON. 97 

of Scotland; the rest, of Ireland. The expedition was well 
concerted. It was the only important enterprise, by land, since 
the commencement of the war, in which the British forces were 
successful. Besides the army under sir Ralph Abercrombie, 
which was to debark in Aboukir Bay, another body, of native 
troops, from India, under sir David Baird, was to land at Cos- 
sier, on the Red Sea ; while a third, under the conduct of the 
Grand Vizier, was to penetrate into Egypt, across the desert. 

Meanwhile, hoslihties between the grand vizier and the 
French army, recommenced. The advanced posts of the 
Turkish army, were then at Mataria, the Heliopolis of the 
ancients, within five miles of Cairo. Here, was fought, a short, 
but decisive action ; in which, general Kleber, who lost only 
fifty men, in killed and wounded, routed the Turks, with a loss 
of eight-thousand ; and, retreating thence with precipitation, 
they fled to Jaffa ; their numbers lessened one-half, before they 
reached that place of refuge, by hunger, desertion, and the 
sword. 

This was the last exploit of general Kleber. When walking 
on the terrace of the great square, at Cairo, a wretch, insti- 
gated, as he afterwards declared, by one of the agas of the 
Janissaries, struck him, with a poniard, and inflicted a mortal 
wound. 

Kleber was succeeded by Menou ; an officer much inferior 
in abilities ; who, having married a Mahometan, had assumed 
the prenomen of Abdallah, with the habit and manners of a 
Turk. 

On the second of March (1801) the British army, amount- 
ing to fifteen-thousand men, arrived in Aboukir Bay. ~ On the 
eighth, the first division, consisting of six-thousand, landed, 
under a most terrific discharge of shot, shells, and grape ; by 
which, not less than seven-hundred were placed kors de combat: 
on the following day, the remainder were disembarked ; and, 
on the next morning, there commenced a series of actions, 
which evinced equal bravery, on each side. But the French, 
at length, lost much of their accustomed enthusiasm: they had 
become weary of their secluded exile, and desired rather to see 
their native homes, than a field of battle. On the twenty- 
seventh of June, general BelUard surrendered Cairo, by capitu- 
lation ; and his division, amounting to thirteen-thousand-six- 
hundred men, were escorted to Rosetta ; whence, they were 
conveyed, at the expense of the allied powers, to a port in 
France. General Hutchinson then returned fo Alexandria, 
laid siege to that city, and compelled general Menou, on the 

I 



M THE LIFE OF 

thirtieth of August, to accept, for his division, of ten-thousand 
men, the same terms, as had been granted to Belliard. Thus, 
ended, the last campaign of the French, in Egypt ; in which, 
each army — the victors and the vanquished — were deprived of 
the service of several thousand men ; and the Enghsh had to 
deplore, in the battle of Alexandria, the death of their com- 
mander-in-chief: — and thus, did the British ministry ejEFect the 
evacuation of a country, by the sword, which could previously 
have been accomplished by capitulation. 

A singular incident occurred, in the battle of Alexandria. 
Major Hall, aid-de-camp to general Craddock, when on a mis- 
sion, -with orders,^ had his horse killed. Seeing sir Sydney 
Smith, he begged permission to mount the horse of his orderly- 
dragoon. Sir Sydney was turning round, to bid him give it to 
the major, when a cannon-ball struck off the dragoon's head : 
■ — "This," exclaimed sir Sydney Smith, "is destiny : the horse, 
major Hall, is yours." 

The expulsion of the French from Egypt, was the last im- 
portant movement of the war. The inhabitants of both France 
and England, having become heartily tired of a contest, long 
since devoid of any rational object, before the issue of the 
Egyptian campaign was known, in Europe, the belligerants 
had tendered to each other, the olive-branch of peace. On 
the first of October, preliminaries were signed, between Eng- 
land, on the one part, and France, Spain, and Holland, on the 
ifin9 other; and, on the twenty-seventh of March, in the en- 
suing year, a definitive treaty of peace was concluded, 
at Amiens ; on which occasion, the marquis Cornwallis repre- 
sented Great Britain, and Joseph Buonaparte, the consulate 
of France. The latter agreed to evacuate the territories of 
Rome and Naples. England restored, to her three antagonists, 
all the conquests made by her, during the war, except Trinidad 
and Ceylon ; the Cape of Good Hope was to be opened, as a 
free port ; and Malta to be restored to the knights of St. John, 
under many stipulations, guaranteed by all the great powers of 
e. 



NAPOLEON. 9^ 



CHAPTER VIII 

RENEWAL OF THE WAR. BUONAPARTE DECLARED FIRST CONSUL 

FOR LIFE. 

The storm, which had so long desolated the world, was 
hushed. The war-worn combatants now rested upon their 
arms, and ceased, for a while, to crimson their swords with 
blood. The chief actors in the tragic drama, reflected on the 
armies that had fallen, and the millions that had been lavished, 
in the mortal strife ; and, dissatisfied with the little they had 
accomplished, at so great a cost, now retired, in seeming peace, 
while preparing to renew the war. 

The first consul had exerted his accustomed energy, to en- 
large his power. On the twenty-fifth of January, he was de- 
clared president of the Cisalpine, now changed, by his own 
mandate, to the appellation of the Italian Republic : soon af- 
terwards, having despatched a powerful army into Switzerland, 
under the command of Ney, the cantons were intimidated, and 
he assumed the title of Grand Mediator of the Helvetian Re- 
public ; and, about the same time, he added the territories of 
Piedmont and Parma, to the dominion of France. On the 
third of August, he was elected first consul, during his fife, with 
the power of naming his successor, by the almost unanimous 
concurrence of the citizens of France ; there being only one 
dissentient voice in the tribunate — that of Carnot. He was 
now a king, in authority, and had to ascend only one step, to 
acquire the name. Not the least politic of his numerous crea- 
tions, was the institution of the Legion of Honour ; of which, 
the office of grand-master, was conferred on his brother Joseph : 
nor, must we omit the organization of the Consular Guards; a 
corps formed of select men, enjoying extraordinary privileges 
and pay, and every other mark of favour, that might attach them 
to his person. 

St. Domingo had, for some time, enjoyed a degree of preca- 
rious independence. The seas being at length open to the 
marine of France, an army of forty-thousand men, under the 
command of general Lecle'rc, was despatched, in order to re- 
store that extensive colony to the power of France. The 
general was accompanied by his wife, the beautiful Pauline, 
the favourite sister of the first consul. Considerable resistance 
was made, by the negro chieftain, Tuissant ; whose talents had 



100 THE LIFE OF 

raised him, from the condition of a slave, to the rank of con- 
sul, and commander-in-chief of the island ; and he was, for a 
while, ably seconded, by Christophe, Dessalines, and Boyer ; 
but, the submission of Christophe, paralyzed the efforts of his 
more determined associates ; and Tuissant was compelled to 
end the war, by capitulation. The terms were based on the 
security of the property, and the personal freedom of the chiefs. 
But, it is evident, that the French commander had no intention 
to observe them. Tuissant had retired to his estate, to enjoy 
that happiness which he had not found in the tented field. Be- 
fore the expiration of the first month of his retirement, the 
Creole frigate stood in close to the shore of Gonaives ; troops 
were immediately landed~; his dwelling was invaded, in the 
dead of night ; and the brave chieftain, with his wife and chil- 
dren, were dragged on board the ship of war ; and, on his ar- 
rival in France, Tuissant himself was immured in a dungeon ; 
where he died, in the following year, in consequence of the 
severity of his confinement. 

The tranquillity of St. Domingo, was of short duration. The 
perfidy with which the French had conducted themselves, 
towards Tuissant, was repaid, with early vengeance. The yel-, 
low fever broke out amongst their troops, and, in a short time,^ 
swept off general Leclerc, with most of his best officers and 
bravest men. Apprehensive of sharing the same fate as their 
commander, Christophe and Dessalines excited the whole island 
to revolt ; and there ensued a most dreadful system of exter- 
minating war. If the negroes tore out their prisoners' eyes, 
with cork-screws, the French drowned their captives, by hun- 
dreds ; and smothered to death great numbers, who were con- 
fined in hulks, with the fumes of brimstone. The number of 
the French diminished, daily ; the fury of the negroes, supplied 
the want of discipline ; and general Rochambeau, the successor 
of Leclerc, was finally obliged to save the wreck of his fellow- 
soldiers, by submitting, at discretion, to an English squadron, 
after the renewal of the war.* 

Now left in undisputed possession, of what is called the 
French part of St. Domingo, the first measure of the blacks 
was to declare themselves an independent state ; under the ap- 
pellation of the Republic of Hayti ; at the head of which, was 
placed general Dessalines. 

The re-annexation of the other West India Islands, to the 
government of France, was not the greatest evil, then suffered 

* First of December, 1803, 



NAPOLEON. 101 

by the blacks. Having resigned the liberties which they had 
conquered from their king, the French nation revoked the 
rights of humanity, which they had ceded to their slaves. On 
the seventeenth of May, slavery was re-established, in all their 
colonies ; and the importation of negroes was ordered to be 
renewed, with all the legislative encouragement, extended to 
this detestable traffic, before it was abolished, by the national 
convention. 

But the fermentation thus produced, in the western colonies, 
was of a moderate temperature, compared with the flame now 
rekindling in Europe. The embers, which had been covered, 
but not extinguished, by the peace of Amiens, soon ignited, in 
their slight concealment, and arose in a terrific blaze. The 
anniversary of the late pacification, had scarcely passed, when 
the gauntlet of defiance was hurled against each other, by the 
two leading champions of the recent struggle, and the lists were 
again entered, with redoubled rage. The chief-consul com- 
plained, that Malta and Alexandria, had not been evacuated, 
by the British troops ; that he was daily slandered, by some of 
the English journals ; and that several princes of the house of 
Bourbon, as well as other emigrants, hostile to his government, 
were allowed to remain, unmolested, in Great Britain. — The 
British ministers complained of severity and injustice, practised 
towards the English merchants, since the termination of the 
war ; of a French army stationed in Holland, contrary to the 
remonstrance of the Batavian government; of the violation of 
the independence of Switzerland ; the annexation of Piedmont 
and Parma, to the French dominions ; the confiscation of the 
estates of the knights of Malta ; and the maintenance of a vast 
number of' persons, in the principal sea-ports of Great Britain, 
under the ostensible character of mercantile agents, but busied 
in making surveys of her ports and harbours, and acting, in 
reality, as spies. The non-evacuation of Malta, was assigned 
to the want of the promised co-operation, by the other great 
powers of Europe, in guaranteeing its independence : the re- 
tention of Alexandria was justified, by the avowed design of 
the first consul, to gain possession of Egypt, either by a treaty 
with the Turks, or force of arms: the abusive language of the 
journals, by the freedom of the press, in England ; not shackled, 
by the inquisitorial veto of a corps of censors, as in France, — 
but suffered to arraign the conduct, even of the chief magistrate 
himself, as in the United States ; — and the asylum afforded to 
the emigrants, was justified, by the law of nations. 

On tlie twelfth of May, the British ambassador lefl Paris ; 

12 



102 THE LIFE OF 

and, on the eighteenth, his government declared war against 
France. 

No sooner had this declaration been promulgated, than all 
the French armies were put in motion. The army of Italy 
was reinforced, and pushed forward a large detachment upon 
Tarentum, and the other strong posts on the Adriatic sea. 
Nor, on the side of Germany, were the troops less active. On 
the twenty-sixth of May, general Mortier entered Hanover; in 
the following month, he obtained possession of the whole elec- 
torate ; and thus, become masters of the Elbe and the Weser, 
the invaders levied considerable sums of money, on the Hanse 
towns of Hamburg and Bremen, in the shape of loans. 

Holland, and also the Italian Republic, were compelled to 
become parties in the war, on the side of France ; and, while 
the commercial interests of Italy were severely injured, Holland 
had, in the course of the year, to deplore the loss of all her 
colonies in the West Indies. Spain and Portugal were like- 
wise constrained to furnish pecuniary assistance, to France ; 
-.Of) A yet, the attack, made off the port of Cadiz, on the fifth 
of October, by an English squadron, upon four Spanish 
frigates, laden with treasure, from South America, has been 
universally condemned, as a barbarous infraction of the law of 
nations ; and, in the eyes of all Europe, justified the insulted 
nation, in a declaration of war, against the aggressors. 

Thus far, had hostilities been prosecuted, during the present 
year, without producing a single event, by which any material 
impression was made, either on Great Britain, or France. A 
menacing attitude was maintained, by both. One-hundred- 
and-fifty-thousand men, encamped in the neighbourhood of 
Boulogne, were incessantly threatening England with invasion ; 
while the navy of Britain blockaded all the harbours of France^ 
and burned her flotillas, in her very ports. 

The first consul, in the mean time, was gradually strength- 
ening his future throne. Early in the month of February, a 
plot was discovered, which contributed to accelerate the com- 
pletion of his project, and to elevate him to the very summit of 
his ambition. The persons implicated in this conspiracy, were 
general Pichegru, who had escaped from his place of exile, in 
Cayenne ; Georges Cadoudal, formerly a leader of the insur- 
gents in Brittany ; and general Moreau. Pichegru was im- 
prisoned, in the Temple— the Bastile of repubhcan France ; 
v/here, in about a month afterwards, he was found strangled, 
in his bed; Georges, and eleven of his associates, were be- 
lieaded ; Moreau, against whom no evidence had been adducedj. 



NAPOLEON. 103 

was sentenced to be imprisoned two years ; but, dreading the 
interposition of the army, in his flivour, the first consul per- 
mitted him to embark for the United States. Captain Wright^ 
also, an officer of the British navy, who had escaped from the 
Temple, wuth sir Sydney Smith, and assisted him in repulsing 
Buonaparte from Acre, having, in the middle of May, been 
compelled to surrender his brig to a much superior force, was 
again immured in the Temple, on the charge of having landed 
some of the conspirators on the coast of France, and found, 
one morning, dead, in his chamber, with his throat cut. The 
mysterious deaths of these two officers, we do not directly at- 
tribute to the first consul. We have no evidence, that he or- 
dered their assassination ; but, on the contrary, having forfeited 
their lives, by the laws of France, they might have been judicially 
condemned, and undergone a public execution. Concerning 
the death of the duke d'Enghein, there seems to be only one 
opinion. This young nobleman, of the family of Bourbon, a 
grandson of the prince of Conde, and the last male descendant 
of that illustrious house, had served with distinction, in the 
emigrant armies, against France. Suspected of having par- 
ticipated in the late conspiracy, a party of fifteen-hundred 
French dragoons, crossed the Rhine, in the night of the fif- 
teenth of March, into the electorate of Baden, a state then at 
peace with France ; and, having overpowered the electoral 
guards, proceeded to the duke's residence, at Ettenheim ; 
where they seized the prince and a few old priests and invalids, 
who dwelt with him, in his retirement ; and, loading him with 
irons, conveyed him, a prisoner, into France. His doom ap- 
pears to have been already decided. Immediately on his ar- 
rival at the Temple, he was hurried, without having been suf- 
fered to sleep, to the castle of Vincennes, about a mile from 
Paris ; where, after the delay of a few hours, a mihtary com- 
mittee, selected by the first consul's brother-in-law, Murat, 
went through the empty form of a trial, in his absence ; and, 
without a single witness having been examined, being pro- 
nounced guilty of bearing arms against France, and aiding in 
the late conspiracy against the person of the first consul, he 
was led, by the light of torches, into the wood of Vincennes, 
and there shot, by a party of Italian soldiers. 

" Paris learned with astonishment and fear, the singular deed,, 
w^hich had been perpetrated, so near her walls. No act had 
ever excited more universal horror, both in France and in 
foreign countries; and none has left so deep a stain on the 
memory of Napoleon." 



104 THE LIFE OF 

The next violation of neutral territory, occurred, in the 
seizure of sir George Humbold. On the twenty-ninth of Oc- 
tober, two-hundred-and-fifty French troops landed, between 
Hamburg and Altona, and, having proceeded to Grindelholf, 
where that minister resided, as ambassador to the Hanseatic 
towns, they seized himself and his papers, and carried him to 
Paris. Having been confined, for a few days, in the Temple, 
he was released, it is supposed, in consequence of the inter- 
ference of the court of Berlin ; and, with the loss of his papers, 
w;as allowed to depart for England. 



CHAPTER IX. 
IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT. 

NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE CROWNED EMPEROR BATTLE OF , 

AtJSTERLITZ PEACE OF PRESBURG. 

1 nOA ^^ ^^^ eighteenth of May, the senate conferred the 
title of Emperor, on the first consul ; the only dissent- 
ing voice, to the consummation of his ambitious views, being 
that of Carnot. The question, " whether or not the imperial 
dignity should be hereditary, in the family of Napoleon," hav- 
ing been submitted to the people, was answered, in the affirma- 
tive, by an almost unanimous vote. On the second of Decem- 
ber, he was crowned, with unusual splendour, in the church of 
Notre Dame, at Paris ; and, to render the ceremony more 
solemn, the new emperor, and the empress Josephine, were 
anointed, by the pope. 

The military deputation assembled at six o'clock in the 
morning, and proceeded to the church of Notre Dame, at 
seven. The deputations from the several tribunals of justice, 
and the functionaries, invited by the emperor, met at the palace 
of justice at seven, and walked to the church, where they arrived 
before eight. They were followed by the senate, the council 
of state, the legislative body, and the tribunate. Each of these 
bodies was escorted by a body of horse. The foreign ambas- 
sadors had a place assigned them in the church. The pope 
left the Tuileries at nine ; and at ten, the departure of the em- 
peror from the palace, Avas announced by a discharge of cannon. 

The pope and the emperor, instead of going directly to the 
church of Notre Dame, repaired to the archepiscopal palace, 



NAPOLEON. 105 

where his holiness pronounced the usual prayers, while the 
emperor arrayed himself in the imperial robes. They after- 
wards went, in splendid procession, to the church. The coro- 
nation ornaments of Charlemagne were borne before Napoleon ; 
and he was preceded by marshal Serrurier, carrying the ring 
of the empress, on a cushion ; Moncey, with a basket, to re- 
ceive the mantle of the empress ; Murat, with the empress's 
crown ; the empress, with the imperial mantle, supported by 
the princesses ; Kellerman, carrying the crown of Charle- 
magne ; Perignon, the sceptre of Charlemagne ; Bernadotte, 
the collar of the emperor ; general Beauharnois, his majesty's 
ring ; Berthier, the imperial globe ; and the Grand Chamber- 
lain, the basket, to receive the emperor's mantle. 

Napoleon then entered the church of Notre Dame, with the 
crown previously placed on his head by himself. In this, there 
was a marked deviation from the universal custom, character- 
istic of the man, the age, and the conjuncture. In all similar 
solemnities, the crown had been placed upon the sovereign's 
head by the presiding spiritual person, as representing the 
Deity, by whose special appointment, monarchs pretend to 
rule. But not even from the head of the catholic church, 
would Napoleon consent to receive, as a boon, the symbol of 
imperial sway, which he was conscious he owed, not to the 
right or title of another, but to the genius and successes of 
himself. 

On the imperial throne was seated the emperor, in his or- 
naments ; the empress, on his right hand, being seated a step 
lower, in an arm chair. The princesses were on his right 
hand. On the left of the emperor, but two steps lower, were 
seated the princes, with the dignitaries of the empire. The 
throne on which the pope was seated, was elevated, near the 
altar. At the moment, their majesties entered the porch, the 
pope descended from his throne, and, advancing to the altar, 
sang Veni Creator. The emperor and the empress then said 
prayers on their cushions, and were immediately divested of 
their imperial ornaments. The grand elector took off the 
crown from his majesty's head; the arch-chancellor took from 
him the crown of justice ; other grand officers stripped him of 
the imperial mantle; while he himself drew his sword, and de- 
livered it to the constable of the empire. Jn the mean time, 
the attendants of the empress divested her of the imperial man- 
tle and ornaments; which, with all the other insignia, were 
placed upon the altar, for the purpose of being consecrated by 
the pope. 



106 THE LIFE OF 

Then followed the ceremony of inauguration. The grand 
almoner, with the first of the French cardinals and archbishops, 
conducted their imperial majesties from the throne to the foot 
of the altar, there to receive the sacred unction. After hav- 
ing been anointed, they were re-conducted to the throne, when 
,the pope performed the mass. His hohness then said prayers 
separately over both crowns, and over the mantles, the sceptres, 
and the hand of justice. When their imperial ornaments were 
consecrated, the emperor put them on again, and afterwards 
placed the crown upon the head of the empress. After this, the 
pope, preceded by the master of the ceremonies, followed the 
emperor, from the altar to his throne ; where, after pronounc- 
ing a prayer, he kissed the emperor on the cheek, and cried 
aloud, to the audience, " Vivat imperator in ceternum!'''' — " May 
the emperor live for ever;" and the audience exclaimed " Vive 
V empei'eur ! Vive Vimperatrice!^^ 

At the Agnus Dei, the grand almoner received the kiss of 
peace from his holiness, and carried it to their imperial majes- 
ties. The emperor, then, with the crown on his head, and his 
hand on the gospel, pronounced the coronation oath : the chief 
herald at arms proclaimed — " The most glorious and most au- 
gust emperorj Napoleon, emperor of the French, is crowned 
and enthroned : Long live the emperor.'''' The audience again 
exclaimed, ^^ Long live the emperor! long live the empress ;^^ 
and the coronation and enthroning of their majesties was an- 
nounced by a discharge of cannon. 

On the following day, the heralds at arms proceeded through 
all the principal streets of the city, and distributed a great quan- 
tity of medals, of different sizes, destined to commemorate the 
coronation. On one side of the medals, the emperor was 
represented, bearing the crown of the Caesars, with this legend : 
— Napoleon Ernpereur: on the reverse, was the inscription Le 
Senat et le Peuple, with an allegorical representation of a figure 
clothed in the attributes of magistracy, and of a warrior newly 
invested with the imperial attributes. 

An amusing discussion arose out of the ceremony of the 
coronation, between the celebrated David, the chief of the 
French school of painting, and cardinal Caprara. That great 
artist entertained an unconquerable repugnance against repre- 
senting persons in modern costume ; extending to every spe- 
cies -of clothing. In his magnificent picture of the Coronation, 
he represented cardinal Caprara, one of the pope's assistants, 
without his wig, and with a bald head ; the portrait being a 
perfect likeness. Little sensible of this advantage, the cardinal 



NAPOLEON. 107 

perceived nothing but what the figure wanted, and entreated 
David to be good enough to restore his periwig. The other 
protested, that he would never so far degrade his pencil, as to 
paint it ; his eminence demanded its restitution, without avail ; 
he addressed himself even to prince Talleyrand, then minister 
of foreign affairs, and the business was diplomatically treated. 
The cardinal became the more warm in the discussion, because 
as the pope had never worn a periwig, in renouncing his own 
he might be thought to put forth some pretensions to the chair 
of St. Peter, in case the holy see should become vacant. Da- 
vid, however, would not yield : he said that his eminence ought 
to consider himself fortunate that he had taken nothing from 
him but his wig, and the portrait remained in the picture un- 
altered. 

It may not be considered trifling, to relate another anecdote, 
connected with the coronation. Eight days before the time 
appointed for that splendid ceremony, the emperor commanded 
Isabey, the highly eminent miniature-painter, who was honoured 
with the familiar acquaintance of Napoleon, to furnish him 
seven designs, representing the seven ceremonies which were 
to be performed in the metropolitan church, but the representa- 
tion of which could not be effected at Notre-Dame, in presence 
of the multitude of workmen employed about the embellish- 
ments and decorations. To make seven designs, each com- 
prehending more than a hundred pieces in action, in so short 
a time, was to demand an impossibility. The emperor, how- 
ever, never admitted any such excuse. The word impossible 
had, for a long time, found no place in his vocabulary. The 
happy and fertile imagination of M. Isabey, inspired him, at 
the moment, with a singular idea. He replied, v/ith confidence, 
and to the great astonishment of the emperor, that, in eight- 
and-forty hours, his orders should be executed. He went to 
the toy-shops, and purchased all the little wooden men, made 
for the amusement of children, that he could find. He dressed 
them respectively in the colour and costume of each person 
who was to take a part in the ceremonies of the coronation ; 
made a plan of Notre-Dame, proportioned to the size of these 
little puppets, and on the third day presented himself before 
Napoleon, who immediately asked him for the seven designs. 
— " Sire, I bring you something better than designs," replied 
Isabey. He developed his plan, and set forth the persons who 
were to act in the first ceremony, and whose names he had 
written at the base of each figure. This represented the re- 



108 THE LIFE OF 

ception, under the canopy, at the church door. The emperoi* 
was so well satisfied, that he immediately summoned all those 
who were to conduce to the eclat of that great event. The re- 
hearsals took place in the emperor's chamber, on a large table. 
One ceremony alone, more comphcated than the rest, required " 
an actual rehearsal. This was effected in the gallery of Diana, 
at the Tuileries, by means of a plan traced with chalk, upon 
the floor. Isabey had displayed all the grace possible in the 
dressing of his puppets, and by his talent prevented his plan 
from appearing in the least ridiculous. The clergy, the ladies, 
the princesses, the emperor, the pope himself, the whole, were 
dressed in the most exact and appropriate costume. 

" When the pope had been a few days in Paris," says M. De 
Bausset, " all concurred in saying, that it was impossible for 
anyone to conduct himself in a more admirable manner. His 
habits and style of living, were those of a simple monk. But, 
what I have said, respecting the temperance and frugality of 
the pope, must not be applied to all the persons in his suite. 
When I had been two months appointed prefect of the palace, 
I examined the accounts and the provision made for the house- 
hold of the holy father ; and I remarked that there was an in- 
finite number of unaccountable articles. I knew that the em- 
peror had directed, that whatever was applied for, should be 
provided; those employed by the pope knew it also, and they 
availed themselves largely of the privilege. For instance, they 
required, every day, five bottles of Chambertin wine, for the 
pope's table, when his holiness always dined alone, and drank 
nothing but water. The rest was in proportion. The other 
tables, prepared for the persons composing the suite, according 
to their rank, were served with magnificence and profusion ; 

and yet it always appeared, that signior M , one of the 

ecclesiastical ofllicers of his hohness, could not find at the table 
to which he was admitted, a provision sufficiently copious to 

satisfy his vast appetite. — One day, the count de B- , then 

chamberlain to the emperor, and in attendance on the pope, 
having occasion to pass into a closet, discovered the gentleman 
above-mentioned, there, occupied in vigorously devouring the 
wreck of a large fat pullet with trufl[les, which he had had the 
address to carry off from the dining table, after making his or- 
dinary meal. 

Napoleon was well aware, that a nobihty is essential to the 
support of every throne. The titles of prince and princess, 
were conferred, respectively, upon the several members of his 



NAPOLEON. 109 

family ; while his ablest generals were created marshals, and 
honoured with the titles either of prince or duke.* 

The most trifling circumstance connected with the life of so 
distinguished a personage as Napoleon, is interesting. Every 
morning, at nine o'clock, he quitted his private apartment, 
dressed for the day. The public functionaries, persons of the 
highest rank, and the officers of the imperial household, were 
successively admitted to his presence. Napoleon addressed 
himself to each person separately, and heard, with kindness, 
what he desired to say. His round finished, he bowed, and all 
withdrew. It often happened, however, that some were de- 
sirous of a private audience : — these waited until the others 
had retired, and then a second time approaching the emperor, 
were left alone with him, and made known their wish. 

Napoleon's breakfast was served at half past nine. It was 
announced by the prefect of the palace, who preceded him into 
the breakfast-chamber, where he was waited upon by the prin- 
cipal steward. Napoleon took this meal off a little mahogany 
table, covered with a napkin. At the end of this little table, 
the prefect of the palace stood, with his hat under his arm. 
As temperate as it was possible for a man to be, his breakfast 
often did not occupy more than eight minutes ; but, when he 

* The following is a list of the principal ministers and marshals, en- 
nobled by Napoleon : — 
Ministers: — Talleyrand, prince of Benevento. 

Fouche, duke of Otranto. 
Marshals: — Murat, grand duke of Berg. 

Berthier, prince of Neufchatel. 

Bernadotte, prince of Ponte Corvo. 

Ney, duke of Elchingen, afterwards prince of Mouskwa 

Massena, duke of Rivoli, prince of Esling. 

Soult, duke of Dalmatia. 

Suchet, duke of Albufuera. 

Davoust, duke of Auerstadt. 

Marmont, duke of Ragusa. 

Mortier, duke of Treviso. 

Junot, duke of Abrantes. 

Lasnes, duke of Montebello. 

Lefebre, duke of Dantzic. 

Macdonald, duke of Tarentum. 

Augereau, duke of Castiglione. 

Victor, duke of Belluno. 

Savary, duke of Rovigo. 

Bessieres, duke of Istria. 

Kellerman, duke of Valmy. 

Arri^his, duke of Padua. 

Caulincourt, duke of Vizenza. 

Moncey, duke of Conegliana. 

Duroc, duke of Friuh. 
K 



110 THE LIFE OF 

experienced the necessity of closing his cabinet, as he said 
sometimes, smihng, it lasted a considerable length of time. 
" Then, nothing," according to the relation of M. de Bausset, 
" could equal the charming gayety of his conversation. His 
expressions were rapid, decisive, and picturesque. In these 
periods of my service, I have known the most agreeable hours 
of my Ufe. While at breakfast, I often proposed to him to re- 
ceive some of those persons to whom he was in the practice of 
granting that favour. It was generally to literary men of the 
first rank, such as Monge, Bertholet, Costaz, Denon, and Cor- 
visart; also to David, Gerard, Isabey, Talma, and Fontaine. 
Some of them are still living, and I am well assured they will 
concur with me in saying, that nothing equalled the grace and 
amiability of Napoleon. Gifted with a copious mind, superior 
intelligence, and extraordinary tact, it was in these moments 
of relaxation, that he most astonished, and most delighted. 

" Returned to his closet, he was occupied in receiving the 
ministers, or the directors-general, who arrived with their port- 
folios. These different labours lasted until six o'clock in the 
afternoon, and were never interrupted, except on the days ap- 
pointed for holding a council of the ministers, or a council of 
state. The dinner was regularly served at six o'clock. Their 
majesties dined alone, except on Sundays, when all the impe- 
rial family were admitted to the banquet. The emperor, em- 
press, and the emperor's mother, were seated on great chairs; 
the other kings, queens, princes, and princesses, had but ordi- 
nary seats. There was but a single course, which was suc- 
ceeded by the dessert. — Napoleon preferred the most simple 
dishes ; he drank no wine except Chambertin, and rarely that 
undiluted. The attendance was performed by the pages, at- 
tended by the valets-de-chambre, the stewards, and the carvers, 
but never by the footmen in livery. The dinner commonly 
occupied from fifteen to twenty minutes. He never drank any 
liqueur ; he took habitually two cups of strong coffee, one in 
the morning, after his breakfast, and the other after his dinner. 

" On their return to the parlour, a page presented to the 
emperor a gilt salver, on which were a cup and a sugar-basin. 
The chief attendant poured out the coffee, the empress took 
the cup from the emperor, the page and the chief attendant 
retired. I waited till the empress had poured the coffee into 
the saucer, and presented it to Napoleon. It had so often hap- 
pened that he had forgot to drink it at the proper time, that 
the empress adopted this agreeable way of remedying that tri- 
fling inconvenience. 



NAPOLEON. 1 1 1 

" I then," continues M. de Bausset, " withdrew ; and, a short 
time afterwards, the emperor again retired to his closet, and to 
labour; for ' rarely,' he said, ' do I put off till to-morrow, what 
may be done to-day.' The empress descended into her apart- 
ments by a private stair-case, which served for a communica- 
tion to the two floors, and to the two apartments. On entering, 
she was received by her ladies of honour, others who were 
privileged, and the officers of her household. Card-tables were 
set out, for form's sake, and to dispel formahty and dulness. 
Sometimes, Napoleon entered the apartments of the empress, 
and conversed with as much simplicity as freedom, perhaps 
with the ladies of the palace, or perhaps with one of us ; but 
in general, he remained only a short time. The officers on 
duty ascended to assist at the evening audience, and to receive 
his orders for the morrow. Such, was the habitual life, that 
the emperor lived, at the Tuileries ; and its uniformity was 
never deranged, except by a concert, a play, or a hunt. 

" It must not be imagined, that the court was niggardly or 
parsimonious. The habits of Napoleon were simple and mod- 
erate, but he loved splendour and magnificence about him. 
His court was always brilliant, and in good taste : it was or- 
derly, and Avithout confusion. 

" When he resided at St. Cloud, the manner of living was the 
same : there was no other alteration, than the time employed, 
in the fine season, in driving out in an open carriage. At 
Fontainbleau, Rambouillet, or Compeigne, when hunting, a 
tent, for the accommodation of breakfast, was always erected, 
in the forest; and the whole company were invited to the 
repast." 

^^^ The year into which we are now entering, stands 
forward, in bold relief, in the annals of the world. On 
the twenty-sixth of May, Napoleon placed upon his head, the 
iron crown of Charlemagne, as king of Italy, at Milan ; and, 
immediately afterwards, annexed, to his Itahan kingdom, the 
republic of Genoa. 

These territorial aggrandizements, together with the execu- 
tion of the duke d'Enghein, excited, throughout Europe, the 
most lively indignation. The immense and increasing power 
of France, occasioned the utmost disquietude and alarm. A 
stupendous political and military plan, was formed, by the Brit- 
ish cabinet ; and most of the continental sovereigns, joined, 
with England, in a confederacy against Napoleon. The ob- 
jects proposed, were, the independence of Holland and Swit- 
zerland ; the restoration of Piedmont, to the king of Sardinia ; 



112 THE LIFE OF 

and the evacuation of Hanover, the north of Germany, and 
Italy, by the French. The combined powers were to bring 
into the field, five-hundred-thousand men. Austria was to fur- 
nish three-hundred-and-twenty-thousand ; Russia, one-hundred- 
and-fifteen-thousand ; Naples, Sweden, and some other of the 
minor states, the remaining sixty-five-thousand ; the whole to 
be set in motion by the gold of Britain. Still mindful of the 
chastisement inflicted upon her, by the sans-culottes, Prussia 
stood by, as a spectator of the approaching combat ; willing to 
obtain revenge, for her past disgrace, yet resolved to draw her 
sword against the French army, only in case of its defeat. 

France was not in the least disheartened, by this formidable 
parade of war. She, too, could bring into the arena, half a 
million of fearless troops. On the twenty-fourth of September, 
having appointed his brother Joseph to superintend the govern- 
ment, in his absence, Napoleoii left Paris ; and, befoi'e the end 
of the month, the several divisions of his army had passed the 
Rhine ; under the command of Murat, Bernadotte, and Mar- 
mont ; Lasnes and Ney ; Davoust and Soult. The Austrians, 
in the mean time, had advanced, to check their progress ; but, 
an unexpected movement of the invading enemy, decided the 
campaign. Having gained a position in the rear of the Aus- 
trian armies, they intercepted their communication with Vien- 
na ; and, on the seventeenth of October, the Austrian general, 
Mack, surrendered Ulm, to the French emperor, under circum- 
stances at once mysterious and disgraceful. 

The Russians began, at length, to make their appearance ; 
and the first division of their army, joined the Austrians, near 
the river Inn. But, on the advance of their antagonists, the 
Austro-Russian army, not being sufficiently strong to await the 
attack, abandoned its position, and retired towards Moravia. 
On the seventh of November, the emperor, Francis, set out 
for Olmutz, to assume the command of his army, in person ; 
and, two days afterwards, the French gained possession of Vi- 
enna. Leaving the greater part of the French army at Vienna, 
marshal Davoust proceeded, with his division, towards Pres- 
burg. On his arrival in the vicinity of that city, he received 
overtures from the governor, proposing that the military prepa- 
rations in Hungary should be discontinued, on condition that 
the French general would guarantee the neutrality of that king- 
dom. To this proposal, marshal Davoust yielded a ready ac- 
quiescence ; and the principal resources of the Austrians were 
thus reduced to the army which the archduke Charles had, with 
so much skill and bravery, conducted, in the face of superior 



NAPOLEON. 113 

numbers, from the Adige to the Danube, and to the small force 
of prince John of Lichtenstein, which had united itself to the 
first division of the Russian army. 

Prince Murat, with the French cavalry under his command, 
having crossed the Danube, at Vienna, overtook the allied 
army of the Austrians and Russians, at Hollabrun. By these 
movements, the situation of general Kutusofi^'s army, became 
extremely perilous. Perceiving the difficulties of his situation, 
he sent the baron de Wintzingerode to Murat, to propose terms 
of capitulation ; and a convention, subject to the ratification of 
Napoleon, was concluded ; by which, it was stipulated that the 
Russian army should retire, by a prescribed route, out of the 
Austrian dominions, into their own territory ; but. Napoleon, 
conceiving the Russians to be in his power, and desirous to 
signahze himself by a complete victory over their army, refused 
to ratify the convention. In the mean time, general Kutusoff 
had retired, with the utmost expediton, to Znaim, leaving the 
division under prince Bagration opposed to the French army. 

The determination of Napoleon, not to ratify the convention, 
was communicated to the prince without delay ; and, on the 
expiration of the time limited for the suspension of hostilities, 
his division, consisting of six-thousand men, was surrounded, 
and attacked by a French force of thirty-thousand. The prince, 
who had embraced the magnanimous resolution to cut his way 
through his enemy, succeeded, after displaying prodigies of 
valour ; and arrived, with comparatively little loss, at the head- 
quarters of Wischau. 

On the eighteenth of November, Napoleon entered Znaim, 
where the Russians had been compelled to leave their sick, 
besides a large quantity of flour. General Sebastiani, to whose 
brigade of dragoons was confided the pursuit of the retreating 
Russian force, favoured by the extensive plains of Moravia, 
intercepted several corps of the rear guard, and made prisoners 
of two-thousand men. Meanwhile, the cavalry under Murat, 
advanced to Brunn — which was evacuated, on their approach 
— and became masters of sixty pieces of cannon, immense stores 
of powder, and a very seasonable supply of corn, meal, and 
clothing. On the twentieth, Napoleon arrived at Brunn, and 
received a deputation from the Moravian states, with a bishop 
at their head. The French pursued their advantages, in every 
direction. Ney was already master of Brixen, Bernadotte 
occupied Iglau, on the confines of Bohemia ; and on the twen- 
ty-third of November, they had pushed their advanced parties 
to the gates of Olmutz. 

K2 



114 THE LIFE OF 

The combined forces, at this place, amounted to about one- 
hundred-thousand men. Of this number, the greater part were 
Russians ; the remnant of the Austrian army, not amounting, 
at this time, to more than twenty-five-thousand. Delay was 
the object of both parties. Exhausted by forced marches, and 
reduced by hunger and fatigue — dearth, misery, and desolation^ 
encircled the armies of the confederated sovereigns. Berna- 
dotte had not joined Napoleon ; a commander who was always 
peculiarly studious to obtain the advantage of physical strength, 
and the power of numbers. Much diplomatic artifice seems 
to have been resorted to, on both sides. As soon as Napoleon 
was apprized of the arrival of the emperor of Russia in his 
camp, he sent his aid-de-camp, general Savary, to comphment 
that prince, in terms of the most courteous civility, and to pro- 
pose to him an interview. The imperial sovereign declined a 
personal conference ; but he suffered the French general to 
remain for three successive days within his camp ; where he 
did not omit to avail himself of the advantages presented by his 
singular situation. 

Although Alexander did not choose to meet Napoleon, in 
person, he sent an aid-de-camp, to explain his sentiments to the 
French chief. In the mean time, Savary had returned to the 
camp, and reported to his master the observations which he 
had been so indiscreetly allowed to make. Napoleon learned 
that the Russian generals, notwithstanding the deplorable con- 
dition of their troops, rehed fully on their own strength ; and 
that presumption, imprudence, and indiscretion, reigned in their 
military councils. Availing himself of this intelligence, he 
issued orders for his army to retire, as if apprehensive of an- 
engagement with so formidable a host. In order to strengthen 
this impression, the retreat was made under cover of the night,- 
and the French army took a strong position about ten miles in 
the rear of its former station. Here, they began to throw up> 
intrenchments, and to form batteries, as if for the purpose of 
defending themselves against the attacks of a hostile army. 
Every thing wore the appearance of alarm and confusion. 
When the aid-de-camp of the Russian emperor appeared. Na- 
poleon, as if anxious to conceal from his observation both the 
temper of his army, and the measures which he had adopted, 
received him, contrary to bis general practice^ at his outposts. 
Preparations had been artfully made, for this interview. Wher- 
ever the Russian directed his eye, he discovered the symptoms 
o^ anxiety and dismay. The troops were labouring, with the 
utmost activity, at the intrenchments; all the posts wera- 



NAPOLEON. 11^ 

doubled ; every precaution seemed to be observed, to guard 
against surprise ; and, so completely was the Russian officer 
impressed with the belief that the French army was on the eve 
of ruin, that, as a prehminary arrangement to pacification, he 
proposed to Napoleon that Belgium should be placed at the 
disposal of the allies, and that he should resign the throne of 
Italy to the Sardinian king. 

These dispositions seem to have been attended with the de- 
sired effect. The confidence of the Russians increased ; they 
considered the victory as certain, and were anxious only to 
prevent their antagonist's escape. The head-quarters of the 
emperor of Russia, and the emperor of Germany, were re- 
moved to Austerlitz ; and Kutusoff, the commander-in-chief, 
ordered a powerful division to march to the left, for the pur- 
pose of turning the right flank of the French army. The con- 
federates executed the orders of their general in five columns. 
The grand-duke Constantine — a brother of Alexander, drew 
up the reserve on the hills near Austerlitz, a little in the rear 
of the whole army ; while prince Bagration threw forward the 
advanced corps by Holubitz and Blasowitz ; in order to give 
facility to the third and fourth columns in marching upon their 
points of destination ; and lieutenant-general Kilnmayer pro- 
ceeded, by Pratzen, to the front of Aujest. No attempt was 
made, to interrupt these motions ; and the French withdrew 
their videttes even as far as Sokolnitz and Tellnitz. From the 
heights of Schlapanitz, Napoleon beheld, with inexpressible 
joy, all the movements of the allies ; and, turning to his attend- 
ants, in an animated manner exclaimed, " Before to-morrow 
night, that army will be ours !" 

When the day had closed, he determined to proceed, on 
foot, and incognito, through the several quarters of his camp. 
His soldiers, however, soon recognised his person, and, in an 
instant, lighted straw was raised upon a thousand poles. It 
was the eve of the anniversary of his coronation ; and eighty- 
thousand men, presenting themselves before their emperor, sent 
their acclamations to the skies. At one o'clock, in the morn- 
ing of the second of December, Napoleon mounted his horse, 
again to inspect his posts : the day, at length, dawned, and the 
battle of Austerlitz, distinguished by the presence of three em- 
perors, ended the campaign and the war, and laid the conti- 
nent of Europe once more at Napoleon's feet. 

The command of the right wing was intrusted to marshal 
Soult : Bernadotte commanded the centre, and Lasnes the left. 
The whole of the cavalry, headed by Murat, was posted be- 



116 THE LIFE OF 

tween the left wing and the centre. Napoleon himself, attend- 
ed by his faithful companion in war, marshal Berthier, the 
chief of his staff, and his aid-de-camp, general Junot, com- 
manded the reserve, which was composed of ten regiments of 
the imperial guards, and ten battalions of the grenadiers of 
Oudinot, with forty pieces of cannon. 

The scene of this tremendous battle, though named after the 
village of Austerlitz, was the heights of Pratzen, a range of 
mountains with a small semi-circular inclination in the middle, 
to the east, running from the lake of Menitz, nearly north and 
south, to the distance of about eleven miles. At the foot of 
these mountains, on the western side, and about a mile from 
their base, is a little stream, which, on the north, divides the 
defile between the parallel heights of Schlapanitz and Pratzen, 
and towards the south washes the plain of Turas. Between 
this stream and the foot of Pratzen, and in the vicinity of the 
plain of Turas, on the west of the rivulet, are situated the 
various villages in which the French were posted ; while the 
allied armies occupied the heights and the hamlets in the 
ravines to the east. 

The allies conceived that by passing the defiles in the neigh- 
bourhood of Sokolnitz, and the other villages, the right of the 
enemy would be sufliciently turned ; and that, by avoiding the 
formidable ravines, which would obstruct their maneuvres, they 
might have an opportunity of executing their further intentions, 
with advantage, in the plain between Schlapanitz and the wood 
of Turas. They then proposed to press sharply on their ene- 
my's right flank, by attacking it vigorously, with numerous 
and compact bodies of troops, in rapid succession. The five 
columns were then ordered to march for the heights ; and the 
fortune of the day was made to depend on the success of this 
attempt to drive back the enemy's right wing. But general 
Kilnmayer lost both time and advantage, by commencing the 
attack with an insufficient force. The Austrians had already 
been engaged about an hour, and had suffered greatly from 
the French sharp-shooters, who took advantage of the ground, 
covered as it was with vineyards, and intersected by wet 
ditches, before Buxhovden appeared, with the first column of 
the Russians. 

At nine o'clock, the French were strengthened by four-thou- 
sand men, from the corps under Davoust, and took advantage of 
a thick fog, which suddenly obscured the valley, to regain their 
lost ground. When the mist was dispelled, the French were 
driven back, and forced to abandon the plain between Tellnitz 



NAPOLEON. 117 

and Turas ; but the communication between the first and 
second columns of the alhed armies was not yet estabhshed ; 
in consequence of which, it was found impossible to improve 
this advantage. By this time, the second and third column of 
Russians had quitted the heights of Pratzen, and approached 
to Sokolnitz. A blind rage seemed to actuate their move- 
ments ; for, without concerning themselves about the fourth 
column, and without attending to the offensive movements of 
their antagonists, they thought of nothing except the first dis- 
position, and continued their progress upon Sokolnitz ; of 
which, they took possession, with little resistance, after a long 
and useless cannonade. 

General Kutusoff", who had not conceived the possibility of 
being attacked on the heights, was surprised, in the midst of 
his combinations, by an unexpected and vigorous assault upon 
his centre, made by the massy columns which Napoleon had 
ordered to advance. The faults committed by the Russian 
general, had not escaped the eagle eye of his opponent ; who 
perceived the advantage that might be drawn from the circui- 
tous route which had to be taken by the left wing of the allies. 
Bernadotte, having crossed the rivulet, by a narrow and ruin- 
ous bridge, obtained the eminence of Blasowitz, supported by 
the cavalry of Murat, and by Lasnes with his grand division. 
From this time, the centre and wing of the allies became en- 
gaged, in all quarters. The confederates evinced no want of 
impetuous gallantry : their cavalry made several brilliant 
charges, which, owing to the precipitate courage of the Hu- 
lans, whose fiery temperament could not await the formation 
of the rest of the line, were very destructive to themselves, as 
well as to their opponents. The centre of the allies, unsup- 
ported by the third column, had to sustain the fury of the 
French troops. Twelve thousand men were attacked by twice 
that number; and, though the French army was numerically 
inferior to that of the alUes, yet, by a more happy arrangement 
of its force, its numbers were doubled on the point where the 
fite of the battle was to be decided. The French succeeded 
in gaining possession of the heights. The Russian division, 
which had marched to the left, was thus completely separated 
from the main army ; and it was evident that the battle was 
lost, unless the communication could be restored. In this 
emergency, the imperial guard, commanded by the archduke 
Constantine, was ordered to advance, and for a moment ar- 
rested the progress of the assailants, by its impetuous charge. 
Marshal Bessieres was directed to hasten, at the head of the 



118 THE LIFE OF 

French guards, to repair this disaster. The two corps were 
soon engaged, the fate of the day depended upon the issue of 
this contest, and the struggle was fierce and desperate. 

But the obstinate valour of the allied troops, was unable to 
contend against the superior tactics of the French. Before 
two o'clock in the afternoon, the action was decided along the 
whole line, when the division of Vandamme rapidly approach- 
ed, to confirm the general rout. Behind Tellnitz, is a hill of 
considerable height. Thither, the Russian infantry retired, 
still under the protection of the Austrian cavalry ; which was 
cut down, in all directions, by a perpetual cross-fire of grape- 
shot. Worn out with fatigue, the infantry continued to retire, 
with tardy steps, and the cavalry had, for a long time, to main- 
tain their post. 

Napoleon at length gained possession of the ground on 
which the allies had been drawn up the preceding night. The 
two emperors having exerted themselves to the utmost of their 
power, to repair the disasters of the battle, retired, in the even- 
ing, to Hodiegitz, behind Austerlitz, with the wretched remains 
of their beaten army. 

The loss in this engagement fell principally upon the Rus- 
sians. It is stated, in the French account, to have amounted 
to twenty-two thousand in killed and wounded, and thirty 
thousand prisoners : but the Russian bulletin makes it consid- 
erably less. 

The day after the battle. Napoleon addressed to his army 
the following proclamation : 

" Soldiers, I am satisfied with you : you have, on the day of 
Austerlitz, justified every thing that I expected from your in- 
trepidity. You have decorated your eagles with immortal 
glory. An army of a hundred-thousand men, commanded by 
the emperors of Russia and Austria, has been, in less than four 
hours, either cut down or dispersed : — the part that escaped 
the sword, has been drowned in the lakes. 

" Forty colours, the standards of the imperial Russian guard, 
one-hundred-and-twenty pieces of cannon, twenty generals, 
and more than thirty-thousand prisoners, are the result of this 
ever memorable day. That infantry, so highly boasted, and 
superior in number, could not resist your attack, and hence- 
forward you have no more rivals to dread. 

"Thus, in two months, this third coalition has been con- 
quered and dispersed. Peace can no longer be distant ; but, 
as I promised my people before crossing the Rhine, I will make 



NAPOLEON. 119 

such a peace, only, as shall afford us guarantees, and secure 
rewards to our allies. 

" Soldiers, when the French people placed upon my head 
the imperial crown, I relied on you to maintain it always in 
that splendour of glory, which alone could give it value in my 
estimation. But, in the same moment, our enemies sought to 
destroy and degrade it ; and this iron crown, conquered by the 
blood of so many Frenchmen, they would compel me to place 
upon the head of our most implacable enemies — rash and fool- 
ish projects, which on the very day of your emperor's corona- 
tion, you have frustrated and confounded ! You have taught 
them, that it is easier to defy and threaten, than to conquer us. 
" Soldiers, when all that is necessary to secure the happiness 
and prosperity of our country, shall have been accompHshed, I 
will lead you back to France. There, you shall be the object 
of my most tender solicitudes: my people will behold you 
again, with joy ; and it will be sufficient for you to say, ' / was 
at the battle of Austerlitz,^ to authorize the reply, ' Behold a 
brave man.'' " 

This was the victor's fortieth engagement. Three days 
afterwards. Napoleon and Francis had an interview, and agreed 
upon an armistice ; in which, Alexander was subsequently in- 
cluded, on condition that he should withdraw his forces, and 
evacuate Germany and Austrian Poland; and, on the twenty- 
sixth of December, this armistice was followed by a peace, 
between Austria and France. By this treaty, Francis was 
stripped of the greater part of his hereditary states ; and ac- 
knowledged the regal titles, conferred, by Napoleon, upon the 
elector of Bavaria and duke of Wirtemberg, as a reward for 
their adherence to the French cause. 

The interview between Napoleon and the emperor of Germa- 
ny, was held in a little cabin, made of turf, hastily constructed 
by the grenadiers, before the battle, and without a roof Fran- 
cis resorted to this rustic bivouac, almost in the habit of a sup- 
pliant. The defeated prince is represented as having thrown 
the blame of the war upon the English. " They are a set of 
merchants," he said, " who would set the continent on fire, to 
secure to themselves the commerce of the world." — This argu- 
ment was not very rational, as it caused the English previously 
to destroy the chief portion of the globe, the commerce of 
which they desired to monopolize ; but the prince by whom it 
is said to have been used, is not much to be condemned for 
holding, at such a moment, language which might please the 
victor. — When Napoleon welcomed him to his military hut, 



120 THE LIFE OF , 

and said it was the only palace that he had inhabited for nearly 
two months, the Austrian answered, with a smile, — " You have 
obtained so many advantages from this residence, that it must 
be very agreeable to you." 

The events of the present year, conferred upon the two great 
rival nations of Europe, an almost uncontrolled dominion over 
their respective elements. The battle of Austerlitz, gave to 
France the absolute domination of the European continent : 
the battle of Trafalgar, confirmed to England the dominion of 
the sea. The triumphs of Napoleon had been greater, at this 
period of his reign, than had ever been achieved, before, by a 
single man. Yet, even these triumphs had their limit ; and all 
the exertions of his transcendent genius, were unable to acquire 
for him, his never ceasing desiderata, of " ships, colonies, and 
commerce." 

On the nineteenth of October, lord Nelson, then blockading 
the port of Cadiz, detached six sail of the line, to Tetuan, for 
stores and water. Informed of this event, and supposing, from 
the deceitful movements of his enemy, that they were much 
reduced in strength, admiral Villeneuve, commander-in-chief 
of the combined fleets of France and Spain, availed himself 
of the apparently favourable juncture, to obey the positive com- 
mands of his government; and, on the morning of the twenty- 
first, came in contact with the British fleet, off Cape Trafalgar. 
Admiral Villeneuve's fleet consisted of thirty-three sail of 
the line, and seven frigates ; lord Nelson's, of twenty-seven 
sail of the line, and four frigates. The French commander 
was a skilful seaman ; and his plan of defence was as well con- 
ceived, and as original, as the plan of attack.' — Certain of a 
triumphant issue, lord Nelson asked one of his captains, on the 
morning of the twenty-first, what he should consider a victory; 
and, having been answered, that, from the situation of the land, 
he thought it would be a glorious result, if fourteen of the ene- 
my's ships were captured, — he replied, " I shall not be satisfied 
with less than twenty." — These words were scarcely spoken, 
before the British admiral made his last signal, " England ex- 
pects every man to do his duty." — "Now," said he, "I can do 
no more. We must trust to the great disposer of all events, 
and the justice of our cause." 

Having seen that all was ready, lord Nelson retired to his 
cabin, and wrote the following prayer : — " May the great God, 
whom I worship, grant to my country, and for the benefit of 
Europe, in general, a great and glorious victory : and may no 
misconduct, in any one, tarnish it ; and may humanity, after 



NAPOLEON. 121 

victory, be the predominant feature of the British fleet ! For 
myself, individually, I commit my life to Him that made me ; 
and may his blessing alight on my endeavours for serving my 
country faithfully ! To Him, I resign myself, and the just cause 
which is intrusted to me to defend." 

The British admiral immediately made the signal, to bear up 
in two columns ; a mode of attack which he had previously 
directed, to avoid the inconvenience and delay of forming a 
line of battle, in the usual manner. The commander of the 
combined fleets, formed his line of battle, with great closeness 
and correctness ; and, as the mode of attack was unusual, so 
the structure of his line was new. It formed a crescent, con- 
vexing to leeward ; so that, in leading down to their centre, 
admiral Collingwood, the second in command, of the English 
fleet, had both their van and rear abaft the beam. Before the 
fire opened, every alternate ship, of the combined fleet, was 
about a cable's length to windward of her second, a-head and 
a-stern ; forming a kind of double hne, and appearing, to a 
person on their beam, to leave a very small interval between ; 
and this, without crowding their ships. Lord Nelson, in the 
Victory, led the weather column ; admiral Collingwood, in the 
Royal Sovereign, the lee. The latter was directed to break 
through the combined fleet, about the twelfth ship from the 
rear ^ the former was to lead through the centre; and the 
advanced squadron, consisting of his fleetest vessels, was to cut 
off" three or four, a-head from the centre. This plan was 
adapted to the strength of his antagonist ; so that the British 
divisions might always be one-fourth superior to the vessels 
which they severed. 

At half past eleven, the combined fleet began to fire upon 
the Royal Sovereign. — ' See," exclaimed lord Nelson, " how 
that noble fellow, Collingwood, carries his ship into action!" 
— In ten minutes afterwards, the Royal Sovereign opened her 
fire, and cut through the enemy's line, a-stern of a Spanish 
ship, the Santa Anna, engaging her at the very muzzle of her 
guns ; when, being delighted at having got into action, Colling- 
wood, turning to his captain, said, " Rotheram, what would 
Nelson give to be here !" — The column led on by lord Nelson, 
had, in the mean time, advanced, towards his enemy's van ; 
flags having been hoisted, on different parts of the Victory's 
rigging, by his orders, lest a shot should carry away her ensign. 
The Victory had lost about twenty men, killed and wounded, 
before she returned a shot : her mizen topmast, and all her 
studding-sail booms, had been shot away ; when, at a few min- 

L 



122 - THE LIFE OF 

Btes past twelve, she commenced firing her starboard guns. 
Captain Hardy soon afterwards informed his admiral, that it 
would be impossible to break the enemy's line, without running 
on board one of their ships ; and begged to know which he 
would prefer. " Hardy," replied he, " take your choice ; it 
does not signify which." Her tiller-ropes being afterwards 
carried away, the Victory ran on board the Redoubtable; 
which vessel, having fired a broadside into her assailant, closed 
her lower-deck ports, to prevent being boarded through them, 
by the Victory's crew. A few minutes after this, the British 
ship, Temeraire, likewise fell on board the Redoubtable, on the 
side opposite to the Victory, having also an enemy's ship on 
board of herself, on her other side ; so that, there occurred, 
here, the unprecedented circumstance of four ships of the line 
being on board of each other, in the heat of battle; forming as 
compact a tier, as if they had been moored together ; their 
heads all lying the same way. Another circumstance here 
occurred, which evinced a remarkable degree of coolness in 
the British seamen. When the guns of the Victory were run 
out, they came in contact with the Redoubtable's side ; and, at 
every discharge, there was reason to fear, that the Frfench ves- 
sel would take fire, and both the Victory and Temeraire be 
involved in the flames. The fire-man of each gun stood ready, 
with a bucket full of water ; which, as soon as the guw was 
discharged, he dashed into the French ship, through the hole 
made in her side, by the shot. 

The Redoubtable had, for some time, commenced a heavy 
fire of musketry, from her tops. At fifteen minutes past one, 
and a quarter of an hour before that vessel struck, lord Nelson 
was walking on the quarter-deck, when a musket-ball hit him 
on the left shoulder, and, entering through the epaulette, passed 
through the spine, and lodged in the muscles of his back. He 
instantly fell upon his face ; and, vidaen raised, by some of the 
marines, " Hardy," said the gallant seaman, " I believe they 
have done it, at last; my back-bone is shot through." He 
was carried to the cock-pit ; several wounded officers, and 
about forty sailors, being conveyed below, at the same time. 
He was laid on a pallet, in the midshipmen's birth. The blood 
flowed, internally, from the v/ound, and the lower cavity of the 
body gradually filled. After the lapse of some minutes, the 
(crew of the Victory, were heard to cheer, when a lieutenant, 
who lay, wounded, near him, said, that one of the enemy's ships 
had struck. Like the expiring Wolfe, a gleam of joy lighted up 
the countenance of the dying hero ; and as the cheers were 



NAPOLEON. 123 

repeated, and marked the progress of the triumph, his satisfac- 
tion was increased. When captain Hardy came down from 
the deck, lord Nelson inquired, " How goes the day with us, 
Hardy ?" — " Ten ships, my lord, have struck." — *' But, none 
of ours, I hope?" — " Oh, no, my dear admiral, there is no fear 
of that." — His voice soon became inarticulate; when, after a 
feeble struggle, he exclaimed, " I thank God, I have done my 
duty," and expired. 

Meanwhile, the command of the British fleet, had devolved 
upon admiral Collingwood. Both the French and Spaniards 
fought most gallantly, and yielded only when their vessels had 
become a wreck. Twenty ships of the line struck their flags, 
to the British fleet, in the battle of Trafalgar ; and, two days 
afterwards, four more of the same class, which had escaped 
from the victor's grasp, surrendered, to a superior force, com- 
manded by sir Richard Strachan, off* Ferrol. 

The victory of Trafalgar, was the most splendid that was 
ever achieved, at sea. The greatest number of vessels, of first- 
rate magnitude, had, in that action, been taken or destroyed, 
that ever rewarded a conqueror, in any naval triumph. 

The fate of the gallant Villeneuve, is much to be lamented. 
Having been suflTered, after his capture, to proceed to Paris, 
that he might justify his conduct, in the disastrous battle, he 
evaded the unmerited reproaches, of the enraged Napoleon, and 
the anticipated sentence of a court-martial, by a voluntary death. 

A few days after the emperor's return from his victorious 
northern campaign, M. Denon, inspector of medals, was ad- 
mitted to an audience; in order to present those which he 
had struck in commemoration of the achievements of the mem- 
orable campaign of Austerlitz. Denon held in his hands a 
number of medals. The series commenced with the departure 
of the army from the camp at Boulogne, on its march to the 
Rhine. The first represented, on one side, the bust of Napo- 
leon ; and on the other an eagle, holding an English hon. — 
"What does this mean?" said Napoleon. — "Sire," said M. 
Denon, " it is the French eagle, stifling, with his talons, the 
lion, which is one of the attributes of the arms of England." 
Napoleon threw the golden medal, with violence, to the end of 
the chamber, saying to Denon — " Vile flatterer ! How dare you 
say that the French eagle stifles the English lion ? I cannot 
launch upon the sea, a single petty fishing-boat, but it is cap- 
tured by the English. It is, in reality, the lion that stifles the 
French eagle. Cast the mecjal into the foundry, and never 
bring me such another 1" 



124 



THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER X. 

/ 

RENEWAL OF THE WAR, WITH PRUSSIA BATTLE OF JENA 

BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND TREATY OF TILSIT. 

^oQo The death of William Pitt, the prime minister of 
England, did not restore, to afflicted Europe, the hap- 
piness of peace. That arch-disturber of the repose of nations, 
so signally unable to direct the storm, which he himself had 
raised, may be numbered amongst those who fell by the battle 
of Austerlitz. On the twenty-third of January, he died, of a 
broken heart. The pacific temper of the Grenville administra- 
tion, of which Mr. Fox held the important office of secretary 
of state for foreign affairs, could not be accommodated to the 
overture, made, shortly after their accession, by Napoleon ; as 
they resolved not to enter into any treaty, which did not include 
their Russian ally. Nor, could it be expected, that the decease 
of this illustrious statesman, which occurred in the ensuing au- 
tumn, would be followed by any variation of sentiment, in his 
successors. That deeply lamented occurrence, produced no 
material change in the British cabinet ; except the substitution 
of lord Howick, as secretary for the foreign department of 
state, and the admission of the deceased minister's relative, 
lord Holland. 

On the eighteenth of January, the Cape of Good Hope was 
taken from the Batavian government, by sir David Baird. In 
the capture of this important station, he had been aided by a 
squadron of British vessels, under sir Home Popham ; which 
officer, after performing this service, ventured, with a body of 
troops, commanded by general Beresford, but without any au- 
thority from home, to carry his whole naval force to South 
America; and, in the beginning of June, having entered the 
river Plata, the general took possession of Buenos Ayres. 
Here, was found a considerable treasure. Their cupidity, 
however, received its merited reward. Scarcely had they 
begun the embarkation of their booty, when they were attack- 
ed, by colonel Liniers, a French officer in the Spanish service; 
and the British troops, after a sanguinary contest, surrendered 
prisoners of war. 

We have occasionally charged Napoleon with the breach of 
treaties. But the French emperor was not the only sovereign, 
guilty of such infractions. The ancient principles of interna- 
tional law, were, indeed, in the revolutionary struggle, tram- 



NAPOLEON. 125 

pled upon, alike, by all parties ; and a self-aggrandizing policy, 
founded upon casuistical expediency, seemed now the only 
guide of kings. A treaty had been concluded, between Napo- 
leon and the king of Naples ; by which, the latter engaged to 
remain neutral, in the war between France and the allied pow- 
ers, and to repel every encroachment upon her neutrality, by 
force. But, scarcely had six weeks elapsed, after the ratifica- 
tion of this treaty, when a squadron of English and Russian 
vessels, was permitted, without opposition, to land a body of 
troops, in the bay of Naples. For this act of perfidy, the king 
was severely punished. On the morning after the signing of 
the treaty of Presburg, Napoleon issued a proclamation, in 
which he declared, that " the Neapolitan dynasty had ceased 
to reign ;" and, having conferred the crown of the deposed 
monarch upon his favourite brother, Joseph, the new sovereign, 
before the end of February, made his triumphal entry into 
Naples. 

Accompanied by the English army, the exiled monarch re- 
tired to Messina. In order to test the loyalty of the people to 
their former government, sir John Stuart landed, in Calabria, 
with an army of five-thousand men. On the fourth of July, he 
found himself in the neighbourhood of seven-thousand troops, 
commanded by general Regnier, on the plains of Maida; and, 
having assailed his entire line, with the bayonet, routed them, 
after a short resistance, with dreadful slaughter; seven-hun- 
dred of the French army being, the next day, buried on the 
field ; while the loss of the British army, in slain, was only 
forty-four. 

Our attention is now directed to the north. The attitude 
of Prussia afforded, at this period, the most interesting object. 
The relations of neutrality assumed by her temporizing mon- 
arch, his own imprudence did not suffer him long to maintain. 
His purchase of Hanover, from the dictator of the continent, 
produced retaliation, by the government of England ; by whom, 
an embargo was laid upon all the Prussian vessels, in the Britisi* 
ports ; and a blockade ordered of all the rivers of Prussia, 
which ministered to the operations of her commerce. The 
subserviency of Frederick William, to Napoleon, involved him 
also in a war with Sweden. His subjects, at length, demanded, 
that the degrading shackles of foreign domination should be 
broken, upon the head of him by whom they had been forged ; 
and his high-spirited queen — young, beautiful, and persuasive 
— burning with a generous ardour, to retrieve the honour and 

L2 



126 THE LIFE OF 

reputation of her husband, joined the insulted nation, in their 
call for immediate vengeance. 

The first public act of the cabinet of St. Cloud, which gave 
serious offence and alarm, to the court of Berlin, was the in- 
vestiture of Murat with the dutchies of Berg and Cleves. But 
there awaited the Prussian government, a deeper and more 
sensible injury, than this. While the French minister at Ber- 
lin, was urging the Prussian minister of that court, to persist 
in the retention of Hanover, the Prussian resident, at Paris, 
discovered that the French government had offered, to the king 
of England, the restitution of his electoral dominions; and that 
distinct hints had been given, to the Russian ambassador, during 
a recent negotiation, that, if his court were desirous of annex- 
ing any part of Polish Prussia to his dominions, no opposition 
would be made, to such a project, by France. The next cause 
of alarm, was the "Confederation of the Rhine." By this 
powerful alhance, of which Napoleon was styled the Protector, 
the new kingdoms of BaVaria and Wirtemberg, the electorate 
of Baden, the grand dutchy of Berg, and the other minor prin- 
cipalities, of which it was composed, were for ever separated 
from the Germanic body, and combined to make one common 
cause with France ; the Germanic empire, after an existence 
of more than a thousand years, was dissolved ; and the house 
of Austria, stripped of its ancient honours, was compelled to 
relinquish the title of Emperor of Germany, to retain only the 
more humble title of Emperor of Austria ; and yield the prece- 
dence to France. 

Prussia, at length, seeks to retrieve her honour. Great 
Britain liberates the embargoed vessels. Frederick WiUiam 
enters the field, with one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand men — the 
best appointed forces in the world — and joins in the fourth co- 
alition now forming against France. 

On the twenty-fourth of September, Napoleon left his cap- 
ital, to assume the connnand of his army. The right wing was 
commanded by Ney and Soult ; the centre, by Murat, Berna- 
dotte, and Davoust ; the left, by Augereau and Lasnes. The 
Prussian army was commanded by the duke of Brunswick, 
aided by marshal Blucher, and prince Hohenloe. But the tac- 
tics of the veteran Brunswick, though trained in the school of 
Frederick the great, were ill adapted to counteract the rapid 
and novel movements of the Buonapartean mode ; and even a 
worse fate now befel him, than his discomfiture by the Sans- 
culottes, 



NAPOLEON. 127 

During the first week of October, Napoleon was wholly oc- 
cupied with geographical charts ; and, when he had acquired 
an exact knowledge of the positions of the enemy, he was heard 
to say — " On the eighth, the army will be in the presence of 
the enemy ; on the tenth, I shall beat them at Scafield ; they 
will retire to Jena and Wiemar, where I shall beat them again; 
on the fourteenth or fifteenth, I shall have destroyed the Prus- 
sian army ; and, before the end of the month, my victorious 
eagles will be in Berlin." 

The campaign opened, on the ninth of October, with the 
battle of Schleitz ; and ended with the battle of Jena. This 
celebrated engagement occurred on the fourteenth. The pre- 
ceding night was sublimely interesting. The sentinels of the 
two hostile armies, were almost touching ; and their lights were 
within half cannon-shot : those of thePrussians illuminated the 
atmosphere, through an extent of six hours' march ; those of 
the French were concentrated to a comparatively small point. 
On both sides, all was watchfulness and motion. The divisions 
of Ney and Soult were occupied,the whole night, in marching ; 
and, at break of day, all the French troops were under arms. 
Every maneuvre, on both sides, was performed with as much 
exactness, as on a parade ; while two-hundred-and-fifty-thou- 
sand men, and seven-hundred pieces of artillery, scattered 
death, in every direction, and exhibited one of the most affect- 
ing scenes, ever displayed on the theatre of war. The numbers 
of the two belligerants, were nearly equal. But the Prussian 
army was much inferior, in commanders. Their confusion be- 
came, at length, extreme. They were completely routed ; leav- 
ing twenty-thousand men dead upon the field, and thirty-thou- 
sand prisoners, besides three-hundred pieces of cannon. — 
Amongst the prisoners, were more than tw^enty generals : the 
duke of Brunswick, now in his seventy-third year, was mortally 
wounded, and general Buchel, killed. 

In a previous battle, at Saalfeld, prince Louis, a brother of 
the king of Prussia, was killed, in a personal rencontre with a 
French lieutenant. 

On the twenty-fourth of October, Napoleon visited the palace 
and tomb of Frederick the great, at Potzdam ; and, three days 
afterwards, made his public entry into Berlin. 

There followed, rather a succession of capitulations, than of 
battles. Fortified cities, of the greatest strength, surrendered, 
on the first summons. We cannot avoid suspecting, that the 
French commanders entered many with a golden key. Never 
had Europe seen conquests so rapid. Within the short space 



128 THE LIFE OF 

of five weeks, one-hundred-and-forty-thousand prisoners, two- 
hundred-and-fifty standards, and four-thousand-eight-hundred 
pieces of artillery, were taken, by the French. 

The Prussian army was annihilated, and the Prussian mon- 
archy subdued. 

Advancing with rapidity, the French passed the Oder ; and,, 
at length, having reached the Vistula, on the twenty-eighth of 
November they entered Warsaw. The Russian emperor had 
now serious cause of alarm. He was excited to make a grand 
effort for the protection of his dominions ; and his army, of 
which general Beningsen was appointed the commander-in- 
chief, took a position at Pultusk. Here, it was attacked, oo 
the twenty-sixth of December, by Napoleon ; when, after an 
obstinate and sanguinary conflict, both armies claimed a vic- 
tory, and each seemed beaten, by the other. 
. p^„ Such, was the state of affairs, at the close of the year 
1806. But, the hostile armies did not long remain in- 
active. The battle of Pultusk was followed by that of Eylau ; 
one of the most obstinately contested engagements during the 
whole war. It was fought on the eighth of February ; and^ 
after continuing for twelve hours, the ranks of both armies 
were thinned, by a dreadful slaughter, and both claimed the 
victory, as at Pultusk. The Russians could exhibit the rare 
spectacle of twelve imperial eagles, taken, in one action ; the 
French continued on the field of battle, for several days after 
the Russians had found it expedient to retreat. 

After this bloody conflict, the grand armies of France and 
Russia, remained, for some time, inactive. In the mean time» 
both were receiving strong reinforcements ; and the emperor 
of Russia having arrived at the scene of war, the battle of 
Friedland, fought on the fourteenth of June, decided the con- 
test. This desperate engagement, which occurred on the an- 
niversary of the battle of Marengo, terminated in the total 
defeat of the Russians ; who are said to have left fifteen thou- 
sand men dead on the field. 

The monarch who had come to protect the dominions of 
another prince, now trembled for his own. A suspension of 
hostilities was proposed, by Alexander ; and, on the twenty- 
second of June, an armistice was concluded, at Tilsit. On 
the twenty-fifth, the two emperors had an interview, on a raft* 
moored in the Niemen. At ten o'clock, in the morning, Na 
poleon, accompanied by a number of his generals, set out, in a 
boat, from the left bank of that river ; and Alexander, accom- 
panied by his brother, the grand-duke Constantine, and some 



NAPOLEON. 129 

of the principal officers of his staff, embarked, from the right. 
The two boats arrived at the same instant ; and the two empe- 
rors embraced each other, as soon as they had stepped upon 
the raft. They remained together for two hours ; and the 
conference ended in a pacific result. The king of Prussia, 
with his queen, joined the imperial sovereigns, at Tilsit. En- 
tertainments followed, in rapid succession. A magnificent 
dinner was given, by the guards of Napoleon, to those of Alex- 
ander and Frederick William. At this entertainment, they 
exchanged uniforms ; and were seen, in the streets, in motley 
attire, partly Russian, partly Prussian, and partly French. 

On the ninth of July, the arrangements of pacification, were 
completed. The two emperors then separated, with mutual 
expressions of attachment, and after having exchanged the dec- 
orations of their respective orders. 

By the treaty between Prussia and France, the former was 
despoiled of all her territories on the left bank of the Elbe ; 
and of all her Polish provinces, except those situated between 
Pomerania and Newmarke, and ancient Prussia, to the north 
of the river Netz. The elector, now become the king, of Sax- 
ony, was to have a part of these severed dominions : Dantzic 
was to become an independent town : East Friesland was 
added to the kingdom of Holland ; at the head of which, had 
been placed Napoleon's brother, Louis : a new sovereignty, 
for Jerome Buonaparte, under the designation of the kingdom 
of Westphalia, was formed, out of the provinces ceded by the 
Prussian monarch, and of others in possession of the French 
emperor. Prussia recognised the Confederation of the Rhine; 
and consented to close her ports, and become a party in the 
maritime war against England. The emperors of France and 
Russia, mutually guaranteed the integrity of their possessions; 
and Alexander recognised the kings of Naples, Holland, and 
Westphalia ; besides acknowledging, in its fullest extent, the 
Confederation of the Rhine, and promising to exclude the 
commerce of England, from his ports. 

The great sacrifice to peace, was made by Prussia. She 
was reduced, at once, from the rank of a primary, to the con- 
dition of a secondary power of Europe ; Frederick William, 
by the peace of Tilsit, having lost nearly one-half of his yearly 
revenue, and five-milhons of his subjects. 

The king of Sweden refused to accede to the treaty of Tilsit, 
and attempted the defence of Pomerania ; but, abandoned by 
his continental allies, his efforts were unavailing. Gustavus, 
however, succeeded in withdrawing his forces from Stralsund, 



130 THE LIFE OF 

before the enemy was apprised of his intention ; after which, 
he crossed the Baltic, and returned to Sweden. 

At this period, Napoleon was in the zenith of his power, and 
enjoyed the utmost vigour of his faculties. Nothing seemed 
too vast for his comprehension, nothing too minute for his ob- 
servation. His exertions were unparalleled, amongst sovereign 
princes : he inspected every thing with his own eye ; he labour- 
ed with more industry than any secretary in office ; and his 
principal relaxation was in the variety of his business. He 
appointed to important stations, those only, who, by experience 
or talent, were qualified to discharge their duties ; and super- 
intended the fulfilment of those duties, with a vigilance, which 
forbade the approach of dehnquency or inattention. 

Napoleon's manner of living, when with the army, was sim- 
ple, and without show. Every individual, whatever might be 
his station, had a right to approach and address him, concern- 
ing his interests. He heard, interrogated, and decided, at 
once : if it were a refusal, the reasons were explained in a 
manner which softened the disappointment. " I was never 
able to behold, without admiration," says one of his biogra- 
phers,* from whom we frequently quote, " the simple soldier 
quit his rank, as his regiment filed oft' before the emperor, 
approach him, with a serious, measured step, and, presenting 
arms, place himself before his commander. Napoleon always 
received the petition, read it entirely -through, and granted all 
proper requests. That noble privilege which he had bestowed 
upon bravery and courage, inspired every soldier with a feeling 
of his importance, and of his duty; and, at the same time, served 
as a curb, to restrain those amongst his superiors, who might 
have been inclined to abuse their power. 

" The simphcity of Napoleon's character and manners, was 
particularly remarkable, when the march was easy, and unin- 
terrupted by action. Always on horseback, in the midst of his 
generals, his gallant aides-de-camp, the oflicers of his house- 
hold, and of his staff", comprised of young and valiant officers, 
his gayety, I had almost said his good-fellowship, difi'used itself 
into every heart. He often gave the command to halt, and 
sat down under a tree, with Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, 
The provisions were spread before him, and every one, even 
from the page up to the great officers, one way or another, got 
every thing that he required. It was truly a fete, for every 
one of us. By dismissing from about him every thing that had 

* Pe Bausset, 



NAPOLEON. 131 

any resemblance to intrigue, lie had inspired tl)e whole of his 
household with a feeling of aflection, of union, and of recipro- 
cal good-will, which made all our stations comfortable. The 
frugality of Napoleon was such, that he gave a preference to 
the most simple and least seasoned dishes. Thus, his head 
was always clear, and his labour easy, even when he had just 
risen from table. Gifted, by nature, with a perfectly good di- 
gestion, his niglits were as calm as those of an infant : nature 
had bestowed upon him, also, a constitution so admirably suited 
to his station, that a single hour of sleep would restore him, 
after four-and-twenty hours' fatigiie. In the midst of the most 
serious and urgent events, he had the power of resigning him- 
self to sleep, at pleasure ; and his mind enjoyed the most per- 
fect calm, as soon as directions were given for the necessary 
arrangements. 

'' Every moment of the day was a moment of labour for Na« 
poleon, even when with the army. If he ceased, for an instant, 
to consult the charts, to arrange the plans of battle, and to 
meditate on the prodigious combinations which it was necessary 
to employ, in order to move, witli matiieuiatical precision, a 
mass of from four to live-hundred-thousand men, he occuj)ied 
himself with the domestic administration of the empire. Sev- 
eral times in the course of the week, a messenger arrived, at 
tiie imperial (juarters, from the council of state, charged with 
despatches from all the ministers ; and never was the labour 
of inspection i)ostponed until the nmrrow : every thiog was ex- 
amined during the day, signed, and forwarded : — all things 
moved on together. The days which succeeded a skirmish, 
an action, or a battle, were employed in receiving the reports 
from the dilVercnt corps of the army; in uniting together all 
the isolated facts; in distributing to each his ])roper share of 
the glory, and in digesting those immortal bulletins, which, 
through their conciseness, clearness, order, and manly simplic- 
ity, present a classic model of military eloquence."" 

In the midst of the disasters of the continent, Denmark had 
remained unmolested. This kingdom, however, was not per- 
mitted to continue the neutrality, so congenial with hov inter- 
ests. Her repose was again disturbed, by a most flagrant act 
of aggression. Fearing that the influence of Napoleon would 
direct the naval power of Denmark against England, the British 
ministry despatched, to Coperdiagen, a fleet of twenty-seven 
sail of the line, under lord Gambier, on board of which, was 
an army of twenty-thousand men, commanded by lord Cathcart 
and sir Arthur Wellesley. The crown-prince, having refused 



132 THE LIFE OF 

to accede to the requisition, that the Danish fleet should be 
consigned to the safe-keeping of Great Britain, the troops were 
landed, on the sixteenth of August 5/ the city was involved in 
flames ; two-thousand of the Danes were slain or wounded ; 
and the prince was constrained to surrender the whole fleet, 
together with all the ammunition and naval stores. 

Universal reprobation was not the only evil result, felt by 
England, from this atrocious violence. Not Denmark alone, 
but Russia, also, was rendered inimical to her, by the attack 
upon Copenhagen, and the deportation of the Danish fleet. 
On the thirty-first of October, the latter power issued a declara- 
tion of war, against England; and, so generally was the "con- 
tinental system " of Napoleon enforced, against her, that, in 
the beginning of the ensuing year, all the ports of Europe, ex- 
cept those of Sicily and Sweden, were closed against British 
vessels and commerce. 



CHAPTER XI. 

NAPOLEON PLACES JOSEPH BUONAPARTE ON THE THRONE OF 

SPAIN BATTLE OF WAGRAM THE FRENCH AGAIN ENTER 

VIENNA PEACE WITH AUSTRIA NAPOLEON DIVORCES HIM- 

s!eLP from the empress JOSEPHINE, AND MARRIES MARIA 
LOUISA, DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 

Having overcome all opposition in the north. Napoleon was 
now at leisure to pursue his schemes of aggrandizement, in the 
south. A French army, under general Junot, having marched, 
through Spain, into Portugal, the court of Lisbon resolved to 
emigrate to the western hemisphere. On the twenty-ninth of 
November, when the French had already arrived in the vicinity 
of Lisbon, and were about to enter the city, the Portuguese 
fleet, having on board the queen, the prince of Brazil, and the 
whole royal family of Braganza, sailed out of the Tagus, escort- 
ed by an English squadron, commanded by sir Sydney Smith ; 
and, on the eighteenth of January, in the following year, arrived 
at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil; which was made the seat of gov- 
ernment. The French entered Lisbon, without opposition ; 
and, for a while, became masters of all Portugal. 
■,QQn But this unoffending kingdom was not the only suf- 
ferer, at this time subjected to the hand of violence. 
Spain, too, was doomed to increase the numerous appanages 



NAPOLEON. 133 

of the French empire ; and, for a long series of years, to be 
drenched in the blood of her indignant citizens. While the 
court of Madrid was agitated by factions, and Ferdinand, 
prince of Asturias, meditated the assassination of his aged and 
imbecile father, Napoleon had withdrawn, from the protection 
of their native country, the flower of the Spanish forces, and 
attached them to the French army, in the north ; and, under 
the character of a friend and ally, having introduced his own 
troops into Spain, he obtained fraudulent possession of the forts 
of Pampeluna, St. Sebastian, Figueras, and Barcelona. The 
artifices practised against these important places, are curious. 
At Pampeluna, a body of French troops, who were apparently 
amusing themselves, in throwing snow-balls, at each other, on 
the esplanafle of the citadel, continued their sport, until they 
had an opportunity of placing themselves upon the draw-bridge, 
possessing the gate, and admitting a body of their comrades, 
who had been held in readiness; and the capture was thus 
effected. St. Sebastian was overpowered by a body of French, 
who had been admitted, as patients, into the hospital. Barce- 
lona was surprised, in a manner not less insidious. The com- 
mander of the French troops, detached against Barcelona, had 
obtained permission, from the Spanish governor, to mount 
guards of French, together with the native soldiers. He then 
reported, that his troops were about to march ; and, as if pre- 
vious to their moving, had them drawn up in front of the cita- 
del of the place. A French general rode up, under a pretence 
of reviewing these men, then passed forward to the gate, as if 
to speak to the French portion of the guard. A body of Italian 
light troops, having then rushed in, close after the French 
officer and his suite, the citadel of Barcelona was in the hands 
of the French. 

In the beginning of March, great popular tumults occurred; 
and, on the nineteenth, his catholic majesty, Charles IV., abdi- 
cated the throne, in favour of the prince of Asturias, as Ferdi- 
nand VII. Soon after this event, the two kings of Spain, with 
the whole of the royal family, were allured to an interview, with 
Napoleon, at Bayonne. The grand duke of Berg, with a French 
army, entered Madrid ; but his arrival excited so terrible in- 
surrections, that he found great difficulty in holding possession 
of the city. The number slain, on the side of the people, was 
immense ; and, it is, on good authority, asserted, that they were 
not brought under subjection, until nearly ten-thousand of Mu- 
rat's army wpre put to death. 

In the mean time, Napoleon, having both the kings in his 

M 



134 THE LIFE OF 

power, compelled them to sign a formal abdication of the throne, 
and conferred the crown of Spain upon his brother Joseph ; 
who was constrained to join the emperor in this usurpation, 
and resign the kingdom of Naples, to prince Joachim Murat, 
grand duke of Berg. 

Napoleon argued with the Spanish canon, Escoiquiz, in per- 
fect good humour, on the expediency of this usurpation ; and, 
as he disputed with him, pulled him, familiarly, by the ear.— 
"So then, Canon," he said, "you will not enter into my views!" 
— " On the contrary," replied Escoiquiz, " I wish I could in- 
duce your majesty to adopt mine, though it were at the expense 
of my ears." 

The cortege which accompanied their catholic majesties to 
Bayonne, did not include a great many persons of rank, but 
there was a considerable number of baggage-wagons, laden 
with precious stores. The carriages of Charles, made upon 
the same models as those of the age of Louis XIV., which had 
been used by Phihp V., on his entrance into Spain, presented 
a singular contrast to the elegance and lightness of the French 
equipages. It was astonishing to observe how little progress 
had been made, in the ornamental arts, in a neighbouring king- 
dom. The same remark was applicable to all the usages, 
manners, and refinements of life. Will it be believed, that the 
etiquette of the court condemned four huge footmen, in fine 
liveries, to remain standing, and knocking one against another, 
behind the carriage of the king, from Madrid to Bayonne, ex- 
posed to the different temperatures, and to all the dust of the 
roads! The following morning, when the equipages of Napo- 
leon, attended upon their catholic majesties, who had testified a 
desire to make the first visit to the empress Josephine, the old 
king, who was moreover suffering from an attack of gout, ex- 
perienced the utmost difficulty, in getting into the French ber- 
lins, and using the modern double footsteps ; on which, he 
hesitated to trust himself, from being accustomed to the steps 
and the largeness of his own coaches. 

Napoleon descended to the door of the coach, and was 
obliged to wait some minutes, in order to give King Charles 
time to disengage himself from his sword, which annoyed him 
almost as much as his gout ; and to overcome the footsteps, 
upon which he hesitated to trust himself. The king was the 
first to laugh, at his own embarrassment. The empress Jo- 
sephine, was in readiness to receive these royal personages ; 
which she did with that grace and amiability, by which she 
never was deserted. After the usual comphments, the toilet 



NAPOLEON. 135 

became the subject of discourse. The empress offered the 
queen, to send Duplan, her head-dresser, to give the ladies a 
lesson in that important art, and the proposal was eagerly ac- 
cepted. Their majesties retired, and returned to dinner ; 
bringing with them the prince of the peace, who had been in- 
vited. It was with difficulty the queen was recognized, in her 
new head-dress. The great talent of Duplan, had miscarried : 
the queen did not look handsomer, but merely changed. 

The emperor, being informed that dinner was served, pre- 
sented his hand to the queen of Spain. Napoleon walked more 
rapidly than usual, apparently without intending it ; and per- 
ceiving the rapidity himself, he said to the queen — " Your 
majesty perhaps perceives that I go on too quickly ?" — " Sire," 
replied the queen, laughing, "it is your usual custom." — Na- 
poleon then walked more slowly, and said, also laughing, that 
his " gallantry for the ladies always made it a point of duty with 
him to consult their tastes." 

During dinner, there was some discussion on the difference 
of the etiquette and habit of the two courts. King Charles 
spoke much of his passion for the chase, to which he partly 
attributed his rheumatism and gout. — " Every day," said he, 
" whatever may be the weather, winter and summer, after hav- 
ing taken my breakfast, and heard mass, I hunt until one 
o'clock ; and I recommence immediately after dinner, and 
pursue the sport until night. In the evening, Manuel informs 
me whether affairs go well or ill, and I retire to rest, to recom- 
mence the morrow in a similar way ; — that is, if some impor- 
tant ceremony does not compel me to desist." 

The Spanish sceptre had been tendered to Lucien ; who 
was, after Napoleon, the ablest of the Buonaparte family, and 
whose presence of mind had so critically assisted his brother, 
at the expulsion of the council of five-hundred, from Saint 
Cloud. Lucien had offended Napoleon, by forming a marriage 
of personal attachment, rather than of family aggrandizement; 
and, having continued to cherish the sentiments of a true re- 
publican, he saw, with displeasure, the whole institutions and 
liberties of his country sacrificed, to promote the grandeur of 
one man. Even the offer of a kingdom, therefore, did not 
tempt Lucien from the enjoyments of a private station ; in 
which, he employed a large income, in collecting paintings and 
other objects of art, and amused his leisure hours in hterary 
composition. 

No sooner had the royal captives ratified the treaty of abdi- 
cation, than they were hurried, from Bayonne, into the interior 



136 THE LIFE OF 

of France. Charles, accompanied by his consort, was carried 
to Compeigne. Ferdinand, with his uncle and brother, was 
conveyed to Valency ; where he was lodged in a castle belong- 
ing to Talleyrand ; and their infamous prime-minister, Godoy — 
the paramour of the self-humiliated queen, and the author 0/ 
the fatal dissensions in the family of Charles IV. — fixed his 
residence at a chateau in the environs of Paris. 

In justice to the two ministers, Talleyrand and Fouche, we 
must not omit stating, that the dethronement of the Spanish 
race of the house of Bourbon, met, from those sagacious states- 
men, the most decided opposition. 

The conduct of the French emperor, excited a general in- 
surrection, throughout Spain. The energies of the people, 
which had slumbered for so many ages, were aroused. The 
patriotic flame burst forth in the province of Asturias ; and was 
rapidly communicated to every part of Spain. The assistance 
of England was solicited, by the patriots, and granted, with en- 
thusiastic ardour. The Spanish prisoners in that country, were 
liberated ; and embarked, for the peninsula, newly clothed and 
armed. On the fourteenth of June, a French squadron, in the 
harbour of Cadiz, after sustaining a heavy cannonade from the 
city, surrendered to the Spaniards. On the twenty-eighth, the 
French general, Moncey, having made an assault upon Valen- 
cia, was repulsed, with terrible carnage; and, on the thir- 
tieth, his army was totally defeated, by the patriots, under 
generals Cerbellon and Caro. But the most important trans- 
action, at this period, occurred in the neighbourhood of Andu- 
jar; where, on the twentieth of July, general Dupont, with an 
army of twelve-thousand men, and a detachment of eight-thou- 
sand, then advancing to join him, surrendered, to the Spanish 
patriots, under general Castanos. On the same day, the in- 
trusive king made his public entry into Madrid. But the news 
of that event, and the approach of Castanos, suggested the ne- 
cessity of a timely flight. On the twenty-seventh, after a resi- 
dence of only one week, Joseph retired, with precipitation, 
from Madrid, which was immediately entered by the patriots. 

The French army was now placed in a most embarrassed 
situation. They began to retreat from the southern and middle 
provinces of Spain, and to concentrate near the banks of the 
Ebro. They had httle expected so enthusiastic an opposition. 
Their affairs assumed every symptom of disaster ; the patriot 
cause, every appearance of success. About the middle of 
August, ten-thousand Spanish troops, under the command of 
the marquis de la Romana, escaped from the Danish islands of 



NAPOLEON. 137 

Langeland and Funen, where they had been stationed, in con- 
formity with the designs of Napoleon ; and, having been con- 
veyed, by a British squadron, to Spain, they joined the patriot 
army. 

Portugal soon caught the patriotic flame. Insurrection be- 
came general, in the northern provinces ; and the French were 
obliged to concentrate their forces, at Lisbon . Nor were the 
Portuguese allowed to suffer long, without aid. The British 
government sent, to their relief, a body of fourteen-thousand 
men, under sir Arthur Wellesley ; who, on the twenty-first of 
August, defeated general Junot, at the head of an army of 
nearly equal number, at Vameira. But the fruits of this bril- 
liant victory, were lost, by an ill-judged treaty, with the French 
commander. Having been superseded, in command, by sir 
Hugh Dalrymple, this officer, together with sir Harry Burrard, 
induced the illustrious victor to join his superior officers, in the 
universally deprecated Convention of Cintra ; by which, it was 
agreed, that the French should evacuate Portugal, and be con- 
veyed, with all their arms, artillery, and ammunition, to France, 
in British vessels, without any restrictions, as to future service. 
On the twenty-sixth of October, the British army, now com- 
manded by sir John Moore, commenced its march, from Lis- 
bon, into Spain, and proceeded to Salamanca. In the ensuing 
month. Napoleon appeared on the contested field, and, on the 
fourth of December, took possession of Madrid. General 
Moore, on receiving intelligence of the surrender of the Span- 
ish capital, meditated a junction with Romana. To accomplish 
this, he proceeded to Majorga ; and, having been joined by 
general Baird, who had landed with a body of British troops, 
at Corunna, the whole army, amounting to about twenty-eight- 
thousand men, advanced to Sahagan. No commander was 
ever more unhappily circumstanced. In a country, which he 
had been compelled, by the British ministry, to penetrate, 
without having been reconnoitred ; disappointed in the promised 
supply of provisions ; unsupported, by his Spanish allies ; com- 
binations were formed, by the emperor himself, to enclose him 
with an army of seventy-thousand men. General Moore was 
no sooner apprized of these movements, than he commenced a 
precipitate retreat, through Gallicia. The movements of the 
French emperor, were greatly retarded, by the difficult passage 
of the mountains of Guadarama, which were covered with a 
deep snow, as well as by incessant rains, and overflowing tor- 
rents. Yet, notwithstanding these difficulties, few marches 
have been so rapid. On the second of January, (1809) he 

M2 



138 THE LIFE OF 

reached Astorga ; after having traversed three-hundred miles, 
in fifteen days. Finding, however, that the retreating army 
had eluded his grasp, he assigned to marshal Soult, duke of 
Dalmatia, the future operations against the English ; who were 
pursued, with undiminished vigour, to Corunna. 

At this place, the British army arrived, on the eleventh of 
January, after one of the most harassing marches ever encoun- 
tered by any troops. On the following morning, marshal Soult 
was seen approaching, with twenty-thousand men. On the 
sixteenth, he made a series of impetuous attacks upon the 
English, now reduced by sickness, and other casualties, to 
about fifteen-thousand, who were posted on the heights, before 
the town : the assaults, however, were sustained, with most 
gallant firmness ; the French were repulsed ; and the English 
occupied a station in advance ; but general Baird lost an arm, 
and sir John Moore received a mortal wound, of which he ex- 
pired, before midnight. The command then devolved upon 
general Hope ; all the English cavalry-horses were shot — each 
trooper discharging his pistol against the faithful steed of his 
comrade — and the remains of this ill-fated army were embark- 
ed, without molestation, about ten o'clock, at night, for Eng- 
land, in a most distressing state of nakedness — the very offi- 
cers, themselves, being, for the most part, without either shoes 
or hats. 

Scarcely a ray of hope, now gleamed upon the patriot cause. 
Though the people continued to prolong the contest, the greater 
portion of the nobles disgraced themselves, by their treacherous 
desertion. After the departure of the British forces, the French 
made most vigorous efforts, to accomplish the entire subjuga- 
tion of Spain. The defence of Saragossa is an event which 
can never be forgotten. The siege was conducted by marshal 
Lasnes, duke of Montebello ; the defence, by Don Joseph Pa- 
lafox, captain general of Arragon ; and, on the seventeenth of 
February, the place was taken, by sap ; after a series of tre- 
mendous assaults, and a resistance unparalleled, except by 
their ancestors of Numantia, when besieged by the Roman 
arms; the devoted citizens, joined by their wives and daugh- 
ters, having fought, for their homes and firesides, with the very 
"knife." 

During the bombardment, which, in the second siege, con- 
tinued two-and-forty days, there was no respite, either by day 
or night, for this devoted city. Even the natural order of light 
and darkness, was destroyed : — by day, the place was involved, 
in a red sulphureous atmosphere of smoke^ which hid the face 



NAPOLEON. 139 

of heaven : by night, the fire of the cannons and the mortars, 
with the flames of burning houses, kept the atmosphere in a 
state of terrific illumination. Disease had subdued the inhabi- 
tants ; two-thirds of the city had been destroyed ; thirty-thou- 
sand of the people had perished ; and the French, after a siege 
of two months, obtained possession of a mass of ruins. 

Much as was the attention of Napoleon required, by the un- 
expected opposition in the peninsula, yet the affairs of Portugal 
and Spain were not alone suffered to occupy his comprehen- 
sive mind. He continued to mould and remodel the relations 
of foreign countries, in conformity with his own views. He 
this year made considerable changes in the Itahan states. Un- 
der the plea, that pope Pius VH. had refused to make war 
upon England, and that the two kingdoms of Italy and Naples, 
ought not to be divided, by the intervention of a hostile power, 
he decreed that the ecclesiastical dutchies, of Urbino, Ancona, 
Macerata, and Comerino, should be for ever united with the 
kingdom of Italy, and expelled Pius from Rome ; an exercise 
of despotic power, which caused his excommunication, by the 
pope. At the same time, he united Tuscany, Parma, and Pla- 
centia, to the empire of France, adopted his step-son, Eugene 
Beauharnois, as his own son, and settled that kingdom upon 
him and his male heirs. 

^ j.p.Q Austria was not inactive, since the beginning of the 
insurrection which had been raised in Spain. A more 
favourable conjuncture could not have been aflforded, to sever 
the disgraceful trammels imposed upon her, by triumphant 
France. Nor were the preparations made, by that country, for 
war, viewed with indifference, by Napoleon ; and his watchful 
jealousy was expressed, by his ministers, with reproaches and 
threats. Austria was charged with having opened the harbour 
of Trieste, to the English ; with having protected, by her ships 
of war, British merchant-vessels, in their passage from Malta to 
the Levant ; with having held conferences with an ofiickl mes- 
senger from the Spanish patriots, and. promised to assist them, 
with an army of one-hundred-thousand men. 

In the month of March, preparations were made, by both 
sides, with uncommon activity and vigour. From Valladolid, 
Napoleon sent his mandate to the princes of the Confederation 
of the Rhine, to furnish their contingents, and hold themselves 
in readiness to enter the field ; and, soon afterwards, he left 
Spain, and returned to Paris. 

The Austrian army was divided into nine corps ; each con- 
sisting of from thirty to forty-thousand men. The archduke 



140 THE LIFE OF 

Charles was appointed commander-in-chief; and six out of the 
nine corps, were placed under his immediate command : the 
seventh was sent, under his brother, the archduke Ferdinand, 
into Poland ; the eighth and ninth, into Italy ;, the whole force, 
at the disposal of the commander-in-chief, amounting to at least 
four-hundred-thousand men. 

On the tenth of April, the archduke Charles entered Bavaria, 
by a bridge of boats, placed over the river Inn. Intelligence of 
this hostile movement, reached Napoleon, by telegraph, on the 
twelfth ; on the evening of that day, he quitted Paris, and on 
the seventeenth, arrived at Donawarth ; from which place, he 
removed his head-quarters to Ingolstadt. In his rapid journey, 
he was without guards, without equipage, and almost with- 
out a companion, except the faithful Josephine ; who accom- 
panied him as far as Strasbourg, and there remained, for some 
time, watching the progress of the campaign. — On the nine- 
teenth, marshal Davoust, duke of Auerstadt, defeated a division 
of the Austrians, at Pressing ; on the same day, another division 
was routed, by the Bavarian troops, under marshal Lefebre, 
duke of Dantzic ; and a few days afterwards, Napoleon, with 
a division composed chiefly of the troops of Bavaria and Wir- 
temberg, attacked the archduke Louis and general Keller, at 
Ebensberg, and compelled them to retreat, in extreme disor- 
der ; leaving, in the hands of the victor, eight standards, and 
eight-thousand of their men. 

The flank of the Austrian army being, by that misfortune, 
completely opened. Napoleon lost not a moment in advancing 
to Landshut. The Austrians, who had formed before the city, 
were driven back, by marshal Bessieres, duke of Istria ; and 
the place was soon taken, with thirty pieces of cannon, nine- 
thousand prisoners, and all its magazines. 

In the afternoon of the twenty-second of April, Napoleon 
arrived before Eckmuhl ; where there were already posted one- 
hundred-and-ten-thousand men, under the archduke Charles. 
The number of the Austrian troops, was much superior to that 
of the French, actually assembled. The mihtary eye of Napo- 
leon immediately perceived, that the left wing of his antagonist 
was disadvantageously posted. It was attacked, by the duke 
of Montebello : the contest was long and obstinate ; but, at the 
close of the day, the Austrians were driven from all their po- 
sitions, and compelled to retreat ; and it was entirely owing to 
the fleelness of his horse, that the archduke himself was not 
added to the trophies of Napoleon. 

Under cover of the night, the broken divisions of the Aus- 



NAPOLEON. 141 

trian army, collected at Ratisbon. A partial breach, in the 
ancient walls, had been hastily effected ; but, for some time, 
the French, who advanced to the storm, were destroyed, by the 
musketry of the defenders. There was, at length, difficulty in 
finding volunteers, to renew the attack ; when the impetuous 
Lasnes, by whom they were commanded, seized a ladder, and 
rushed forward, to fix it, himself, against the walls. " I will 
show you," he exclaimed, " that your general is still a grena- 
dier." The example prevailed, the wall was surmounted, and 
the combat was continued or renewed in the streets of the 
town, which was speedily on fire. A body of French, rushing 
to charge a body of Austrians, who still occupied one end of a 
burning street, were interrupted by some wagons, belonging 
to the enemies' train. — " They are tumbrils of powder," cried 
the Austrian, commanding, to the French ; " if the flames 
reach them, both sides must perish!" — The combat ceased, 
and the two parties joined, in arresting a calamity, which must 
have been fatal to both, and finally saved the ammunition from 
the flames. At length, the Austrians were driven out of Ratis- 
bon, leaving the field covered with eight-thousand of their slain. 

In these battles, Napoleon pursued his usual plan, of breaking 
his enemy's forces, into detached parts, and then attacking 
them, when severed. At no period of his career, did the ge- 
nius of Napoleon appear more completely to prostrate all op- 
position. In the short space of five days, the Austrians had 
lost one-hundred pieces of cannon, and forty-thousand men. 

The defeat of the Austrian armies, had laid open the capital, 
to the invaders. On the tenth of May, Napoleon appeared 
before the gates of Vienna, a city enclosed by a very feeble 
barrier; and, on the twelfth, after sustaining a destructive 
bombardment, for about twenty-four hours, it was surrendered, 
by capitulation. The palace of the emperor was directly in 
front of this terrible fire. The emperor, himself, and all his 
family, but one, who was confined, by indisposition, had retir- 
ed to Buda: — this was Maria Louisa, the young archduchess; 
who soon afterwards became empress of France. On receiv- 
ing information of this circumstance. Napoleon ordered that 
the palace should be respected, and the shells thrown against 
other quarters of the town. 

Meanwhile, the archduke Charles had fixed his head-quarters 
at Entzersdorf Napoleon lost not a moment in determining to 
assail him, in this new position. The French army was marched 
down the river, to Ebersdorf; where two islands divide the 



142 THE LIFE OF 

Danube into three branches, of the average breadth of about 
two-hundred yards. On the nineteenth of May, the French 
engineer threw two bridges from the right bank of the river, ~ 
to the smaller island, and, on the next day, two other bridges, 
from that island, to the island of In-der Lobau ; which forms a 
convenient rendezvous for troops, and where Napoleon estab- 
lished his head-quarters. In three hours, a bridge, consisting 
of fifteen pontoons, was thrown over that arm of the river, 
which separates Lobau from the left bank; and the archduke 
having resolved not to interrupt the passage of his enemy, they 
were permitted to extend themselves along the river, without 
molestation. Thus, left at liberty to choose the field of battle, 
Napoleon determined to post the right wing of his army on the 
village of Esling, and the left on the neighbouring village of 
Aspern. 

A series of battles now commenced, surpassing, in obstinacy, 
any combats in which Napoleon had hitherto been engaged. 
The possession of Aspern was necessary, in order to enable 
the Austrian artillery to play, with effect, upon the centre of 
the French lines. The contest, here, was most resolute and 
murderous. In every street, every house, every out-building, 
the battle raged, with unexampled fury : every wall was an 
impediment to the assailants, and a rampart for the attacked. 
The steeples, attics, and cellars, were to be conquered, before 
either party could style themselves masters of the place; and 
for seven hours, the contest continued, each party rivalling the 
other in courage and perseverance ; until the French were, at 
length, completely routed, and the Austrians, at the close of 
the first day, remained in possession of the village. 

Esling was a position, of as much importance to the right of 
the assailants, as Aspern was to their left. Here, the French 
fought with still greater obstinacy and courage, than they had 
displayed in the defence of Aspern ; and, at the termination of 
the first day's engagement, it was in their possession. 

On the following day, new efforts were to be expected. Na- 
poleon's glory, as well as the existence of his army, was at 
stake; and the fate of the Austrian empire, depended upon the 
success of the army under the archduke. During the battle of 
the twenty-first, the latter had ordered fire-ships to be sent 
down the river ; by which, the two bridges connecting the 
island of Lobau with the small island, and that island with the 
right bank of the Danube, were destroyed. In consequence 
of this. Napoleon was rendered less able to repair his disasters j 



NAPOLEON. 143 

and, in case the battle of the succeeding day should prove de- 
cidedly adverse, it was apprehended that it would be impossible 
for him to effect a retreat. 

At four o'clock, on the morning of the twenty-second, the 
battle recommenced, and the duke of Rivoli succeeded in estab- 
lishing himself in Aspern. TJie desperate courage, displayed, 
by both armies, on the preceding day, was repeated. Night 
closed upon the infuriated combatants, before the wavering 
scales of victory preponderated, in favour of either. At length, 
the French could no longer sustain the enthusiastic charges of 
the Austrian columns ; and, before day-light, on the morning 
of the twenty third, they evacuated all the positions which they 
had held on the left bank of the Danube, and accomplished 
their retreat, to Lobau. 

The loss, on both sides, was prodigious, but the French army 
suffered most. Marshal Lasnes, duke of Montebello, and three 
other French generals, were killed ; eight generals were wound- 
ed, and two were made prisoners; and, according to the Aus- 
trian bulletin, eight-thousand French soldiers were buried on 
the field of battle. The interment of the fallen combatants was 
continued for several days; and, in the figurative language of 
the Austrian gazette, " a pestilential air was wafted down the 
theatre of death." 

The war, in other parts, was attended with various success. 
A most formidable insurrection had sprung up, in Saxony, 
Westphalia, and Hanover. Hut, no sufficient aid having been 
afforded to the insurgents, either by the Austrians or the Eng- 
lish, they were crushed, by superior discipline. At the head 
of these northern patriots, were two officers, Schill and the 
duke of Brunswick, well calculated, by their character, their 
talents, and their influence, to animate their followers. The 
former was killed, in the defence of Stralsund ; the latter was 
compelled to seek for safety, in flight, and embarked, with his 
little corps, for England. 

The operations of the hostile armies in Italy, were more im- 
portant than those of the armies in the north of Germany, or 
Poland. At the beginning of the campaign, in Italy, the Aus- 
trians were eminently successful ; but the victories of the French 
emperor so near Vienna, rendered it expedient for the archduke 
John, who commanded his brother's troops in Italy, to retrace 
his steps. The French army, under Eugene Beauharnois, son 
of the empress Josephine, having pursued the archduke towards 
the Danube, advanced towards the Austrian capital, and, by 
the presence of his victorious legions, served to swell the num- 



144 THE LIFE OF 

ber of combatants in the approaching great and decisive battle 
of Wagram. 

From the day of the battle of Aspern, to the end of the first 
week in July, Napoleon continued stationary, on the south 
bank of the Danube. But, though stationary, he was, by no 
means, inactive. He was making the most formidable prepa- 
rations, not merely to guard himself from an attack, by the 
archduke Charles, but also to resume offensive operations, in 
such a manner as to ensure success. The construction of the 
bridges over the Danube, in place of those which had been de- 
stroyed, was intrusted to count Bertrand. In the short space 
of a fortnight, this engineer formed a bridge of sixty arches, so 
broad that three wagons could pass abreast, to In-der Lobau, 
over four-hundred fathoms of a rapid river. A second bridge, 
eight feet broad, was made, for infantry. Opposite EsHng, on 
the left arm of the Danube, another bridge was formed, by the 
duke of Rivoli ; which, as well as the two others, were guarded 
by a tete du ponf. At this time, the Austrian army was strongly 
intrenched on the north bank of the Danube, the left wing 
stretching towards Entzersdorf, the right resting on the village 
of Aspern. 

While Napoleon was thus engaged, in fortifying his positions, 
and in |ireparing so stupendous means for crossing the Danube, 
the archduke Charles had not only raised works, and planted 
cannon, to guard himself against an attack, but he had also 
received immense reinforcements. Each army might now be 
estimated at one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand men. As the prin- 
cipal means of passing the Danube had been formed directly 
opposite the Austrian redoubts, between Aspern and Esling, 
the attention of the archduke was, in a great measure, confined 
to this point. But the object of Napoleon, in making so much 
parade about this bridge, was to divert the attention of the arch- 
duke, but, by no means, to cross the river, in the face of the 
enemy's most formidable position. During the night of the 
fourth of July, four new bridges were completed : one, in a 
single piece, eighty toises long, was fixed in less than five min- 
utes ; and the three others, consisting of boats and rafts, thrown 
over the river. The night was unusually dark, the rain fell in 
torrents, and the operations of the French commander were 
concealed by the violence of the storm. At two o'clock, on 
the morning of the fifth, the whole French army had crossed 
the Danube ; and at day-break they were arranged, in order 
of battle, at the extremity of the left flank of the Austrians. In 
like manner, had general Wolfe surprised the French garrison, 



NAPOLEON. 145 

at Quebec. The archduke Charles was completely out-gene- 
raled. His works were rendered useless. He was compelled 
to abandon his strong position, and fight his enemy on the spot 
chosen by themselves. At six o'clock, the French had taken 
all the Austrian fortifications, between Eshng and Entzersdorf ; 
the garrisons of which were nearly all either killed or wounded. 

A general engagement had now become inevitable. On the 
morning of the sixth, the two armies, each provided with up- 
wards of five-hundred pieces of cannon, were drawn out for 
battle. The left of the French army was commanded by the 
prince of Ponte Corvo ; the right, by the duke of Auerstadt ; 
the centre, by Napoleon himself. 

The corps of prince Rosenberg, and that of the duke of Au- 
erstadt, encountered each other, in the morning, and gave the 
signal for battle. The cannonade soon became general ; and 
the efi'ect of the injudicious dispositions of the Austrian com- 
mander, in weakening his centre, soon became manifest. Sur- 
prised at this maneuvre. Napoleon at first suspected some 
stratagem. But he was soon convinced, that his antagonist 
had committed a fatal error ; of which, he hastened to take ad- 
vantage. A furious effort was directed' against the Austrian 
centre. Unable to withstand this tremendous onset, it fell 
back, a league. The right, perceiving the dangerous position 
in which it was now placed, retreated, to the same ground : 
and the left, being outflanked, fell back upon Wagram. At 
noon, this important position was carried, the battle was com- 
pletely won, and the Austrians retired upon Bohemia. 

The fate of Germany was now decided. The number of the 
Austrians slain, was immense ; while ten pair of colours, forty 
pieces of cannon, and twenty-thousand prisoners, were the 
trophies of the victory of Wagram. No time was lost, in pur- 
suing the archduke. On the tenth of July, he was again de- 
feated, at Znaim ; on the twelfth, an armistice was signed, 
which plainly indicated the extent of the Austrian losses. From 
causes, which, at the time, were not understood, but which a 
subsequent matrimonial alliance tended, in some degree, to 
explain, the negotiations for a definitive treaty, between France 
and Austria, proceeded very slowly, and were not finally closed 
until the fourteenth of October. The terms imposed upon the 
vanquished, were considered as by no means severe. The ces- 
sions made by the emperor Francis, were, however, very great ; 
and may be comprised under three heads : — those to the sove- 
reigns of the Confederation of the Rhine ; those to the king of 
Saxony ; and those to the emperor of France. The Austrian 

N 



146 THE LIFE OF 

monarch agreed to acknowledge Joseph Buonaparte, as king 
of Spain ; to accede to the continental system, and to break 
off all intercourse with England. 

In the course of these negotiations, Napoleon, according to 
his custom, reviev/ed the several corps of the army. The pa- 
rade took place every morning, at nine o'clock, in the large 
and beautiful square of the palace of Schoenbrunn. One morn- 
ing, a youth, of about eighteen years of age, clothed in a plain 
blue riding-coat and a military hat, with a metal button, bear- 
ing on it the eagle, but without a cockade, and holding a paper 
in his hand, seeing that Napoleon did not stop, as usual, at the 
foot of the great staircase, to receive petitions, insisted on fol- 
lowing him, and presenting his petition himself Berthier, 
who was behind the emperor, told this intruder that he could 
present it when the parade was ended. But the youth was 
determined to proceed. Notwithstanding the observation of 
the prince of Neufchatel, he continued to follow ; pretending 
that the subject of his request would not occasion any delay, 
and that he wished to speak to Napoleon. General Rapp, the 
aid-de-camp on duty, seeing that he persisted in minghng with 
the general officers who followed the emperor, seized him by 
the collar of his coat, desiring him warmly to retire : in doing 
this, general Rapp having felt the handle of an instrument 
v/hich the young man had in his side-pocket, he grasped him 
more strongly, had him arrested, and conducted to the guard- 
house. Having been there searched, a knife was discovered 
on him, with a long blade, sharpened on both edges ; with 
which, he frankly avowed his intention to kill the emperor. 
Shortly afterwards, he was brought before Napoleon. The 
emperor asked him what he wanted. He replied, " to kill 
you." Napoleon asked him what he had done to him, to make 
him desire to take away his life. He answered, that Napoleon 
had done a great deal of mischief to his country ; that he had 
desolated and ruined it, by the war which he had waged against 
it. Napoleon inquired, why he did not kill the emperor of 
Austria, instead of him, as he was the cause of the war, and 
not Napoleon. He replied, " Oh, he is a blockhead, and, if ^e 
were killed, another like him would be put upon the throne ; 
but if you were dead, it would not be easy to find such another." 
He said that he had been called upon, by God, to kill Napoleon, 
and quoted Judith and Holifernes, spoke much about religion, 
cited several parts of the Bible which he thought appropriate 
to his project, and said that he was the son of a protestant 
clergyman at Erfurth. He had not made his father privy to 



NAPOLEON. 147 

his design, and had left his house without money ; having sold 
his watch, in order to purchase the murderous knife. He said 
that he trusted in God, to find the means to effect his purpose. 
The emperor called his surgeon, ordered him to feel the youth's 
pulse, and see if he were mad. He did so, and every thing 
was calm. Napoleon desired him to be taken aWay, and locked 
up in a room, with a gendarme; to have no sort of food for 
twenty-four hours, but as much cold Avater as he liked. He 
wished to give him time to cool and reflect, and then to ex- 
amine him, when his stomach was empty, and at a time when 
he might not be under the influence of any thing that would 
heat or exalt his imagination. After the twenty-four hours 
were expired, the emperor sent for him, and asked, — " If I were 
to pardon you, would you make another attempt upon my life ?" 
He hesitated a long time, and at last, with great difficulty, said 
that he would not ; as then it would not appear to be the in- 
tention of God that he should kill him, otherwise he would have 
allowed him to do it, at first. The emperor ordered him to be 
removed. He intended to pardon him ; but it was represented 
that his hesitation, after twenty-four hours' fasting, was a sure 
evidence that his designs were bad, and that he still intended 
to assassinate ; that he was an enthusiast, a fanatic, and that, 
in such a case, impunity would set a very bad example : — he 
was therefore tried by a military commission, and shot. 

The most humiliating condition of the treaty of Schcenbrunn, 
was that by which the Austrian monarch assigned the inhabi- 
tants of the Tyrol, to Bavaria. Though deserted by their sove- 
reign, the Tyrolese still refused submission to the conqueror. 
Their resistance was most formidable : some of the most expe- 
rienced generals of Napoleon, were frequently defeated, and 
driven back, with great loss. The brave Hoffer animated and 
directed the exertions of his countrymen. On the conquest of 
the province, however, the French emperor was determined ; 
and at length he effected his purpose, by pouring in continual 
reinforcements, and by the capture and universally reprobated 
execution of their gallant leader. 

The Austrians censured the want of tactics of the Tyrolese. 
Some poetical sharp-shooter defended his country by an epi' 
gram, of which the following is a translation : — 

" It is but chance, our learn'd tacticians say, 
Which, without science, gains the battle day; 
Yet, would I rather win the field by chance. 
Than study tactics, and be beat by France." 

Soon after the breaking out of the war, between France and 



148 THE LIFE OF 

Austria, the British ministry began to make preparations for a 
large and formidable expedition. Forty-thousand troops, in- 
tended to be assisted, in their operations, by thirty-five sail of 
the line, and about two-hundred sail of smaller vessels, were 
assembled, in the latter end of July, on the coasts of Kent and 
Hampshire ; for the purpose of gaining possession of the isle 
of Walcheren, and destroying the French ships of war, in the 
Scheldt. A more gallant army, or a nobler fleet, had never 
sailed from the harbour of any country. Nothing was wanted, 
to ensure success, but an able general. Had the activity of 
the admiral, sir Richard Strachan, been seconded by the com- 
mander of the land-forces, the earl of Chatham, the object of 
the English ministry might have been accomplished. But, 
after having destroyed the dock-yards of Flushing, the British 
general, whose indolence w^as proverbial, paused, in the com- 
pletion of the enterprise, until a considerable army had been 
assembled, for the defence of Antwerp ; no further advance 
was attempted, and the troops were allowed to remain amidst 
pestiferous marshes, until a large portion of their number had 
fallen victims to the prevailing epidemic. 

We have said, that the terms granted to the prostrate Fran- 
cis, were considered mild. In a territorial view, they were 
certainly most liberal ; but, there was one cession, the subject 
of a secret article, to which the proud spirit of the house of 
Hapsburg, must have yielded with a bitter pang. His daughter 
had been thrown into the diplomatic scale ; and, what was 
wanting in the extent of territorial assignments, was supplied 
by the sacrifice of parental love. After a union of fifteen years, 
the empress Josephine had blessed her husband with no heir 
to his imperial throne ; and Napoleon resolved to sever the 
connubial bond, and unite his hymeneal fortune with a younger 
bride. 

" There is perhaps no part of the varied life of the wonderful 
person of whom we treat," observes an eminent writer, " more 
deeply interesting, than the change which took place in his 
domestic establishment, shortly after the peace of Presburg. 
The main causes of that change, are strongly rooted in human 
nature ; but there were others, which arose out of Napoleon's 
peculiar situation. The desire of posterity — of being repre- 
sented long after our own earthly career is over, by those who 
derive their life and situation in society from lis — is proper to 
our species. In all ages and countries, children are accounted 
a blessing, barrenness a misfortune, at least, if not a curse. This 
desire of maintaining a posthumous connexion with the world, 



NAPOLEON. 149 

through the medium of our descendants, is increased, when 
there is property or rank to be inherited ; and, however vain 
the thought, there are few to which men chng with such sincere 
fondness, as the prospect of bequeathing to their children's 
children, the fortunes they have inherited from their fathers, or 
acquired by their own industry. There is kindness, as well as 
some vanity, in the feeling ; for the attachment which we bear 
to the children whom we see and love, naturally carries itself 
to our lineage, whom we may never see. The love of distant 
posterity is, in some degree, the metaphysics of natural affec- 
tion. 

" It was impossible that the founder of so vast an empire as 
that of Napoleon, could be insensible to a feeling which is so 
deeply ingrafted in our nature, as to influence the most petty 
proprietor of a house and a few acres : — it is of a character to 
be felt in proportion to the extent of the inheritance ; and, so 
viewed, there never existed in the world, before, and it is de- 
voutly to be hoped, will never be again permitted, by Provi- 
dence, to arise, a power so extensive, so formidable, as that of 
Napoleon. 

" The sterihty of the empress Josephine, was now rendered, 
by the course of nature, an irremediable evil, over which she 
mourned, in hopeless distress ; and, conscious on what precari- 
ous circumstances, the continuance of their union seemed now 
to depend, she gave way, occasionally, to fits of jealousy, less 
excited, according to Napoleon, by personal attachment, than 
by suspicion that her influence over her husband's mind might 
be diminished, in case of his having offspring by some paramour. 

" She turned her thoughts to seek a remedy, and exerted 
her influence over her husband, to induce him to declare some 
one his successor, according to the unlimited powers vested in 
him, by the imperial constitution. In the selection, she naturally 
endeavoured to direct his choice towards his step-son, Eugene 
Beauharnois, her own son, by her first marriage ; but this did 
not meet Napoleon's approbation. A child, the son of his 
brother Louis, by Hortense Beauharnois, appeared, during its 
brief existence, more hkely to become the destined heir to this 
immense inheritance. Napoleon seemed attached to the boy, 
and when he manifested any spark of childish spirit, rejoiced 
in the sound of the drum, or showed pleasure in looking upon 
arms, and the image of war, he is said to have exclaimed, — 
' There, is a child, fit to succeed, perhaps to surpass me.' 

" But the son of Louis and Hortense died of a disorder, inci- 
dent to childhood ; and thus was broken, while yet a twig, the 

N2 



150 THE LIFE OF 

shoot, that, growing to maturity, might have been reckoned on,' 
as the stay of an empire. 

" Yet, setting aside her having the misfortune to bear him no 
issue, the claims of Josephine, on her husband's affections, vv^ere 
as numerous as could be possessed by a wife. She had shared 
his more lowly fortunes ; and, by her management and address, 
during his absence in Egypt, had paved the way for the splen- 
did success which he had attained, on his return. She had 
also done much to render his government popular, by softening 
the sudden and fierce bursts of passion, to which his tempera- 
ment induced him to give way. No one could understand, hke 
Josephine, the peculiarities of her husband's temper; no one 
dared, like her, to encounter his displeasure, rather than not 
advise him for his better interest ; no one could possess such 
opportunities of watching the fit season for intercession ; and 
no one, it is allowed, on all hands, made a more prudent, or a 
more beneficent use, of the opportunities she enjoyed. Vehe- 
ment by nature, a soldier by education, and invested, by fortune, 
with the most despotic power, Buonaparte required peculiarly 
the moderating influence of such a mind, which could interfere 
without intrusion, and remonstrate without offence. 

" To maintain this influence over her husband, Josephine 
made, not only unreluctantly, but eagerly, the greatest personal 
sacrifices. In all the rapid journeys which he performed, she 
was his companion. No obstacle, of road or weather, was 
permitted to interfere with her departure. However sudden 
the call, the empress was ever ready ; however untimely the 
hour, her carriage was in instant attendance. The influence 
which she maintained, by this sacrifice of her personal comforts, 
was used for the advancement of her husband's best interests, 
——relieving those who were in distress, and averting the con- 
sequences of hasty resolutions, formed in a moment of violence 
and irritation. 

" Besides her considerable talents, and her real beneficence 
of disposition, Josephine was possessed of other ties over the 
mind of her husband. The mutual passion which had subsisted 
between them for many years, if its warmth had abated, seem.s 
to have left behind affectionate remembrances, and mutual es- 
teem. The grace and dignity with which Josephine played 
her part, in the imperial pageant, was calculated to gratify the 
pride of Napoleon, which might have been shocked at seeing 
the character of empress discharged with less ease and adroit- 
ness ; for, her temper and manners enabled her, as one early 
accustomed to the society of persons of political influence, tos 



NAPOLEON. 151 

conduct herself with singular dexterity, in the intrigues of the 
splendid and busy court, where she filled so important a char- 
acter. Lastly, it is certain, that Buonaparte, who, like many 
of those who affect to despise superstition, had a reserve of it 
in his own bosom, believed that his fortunes were indlssolubly 
connected with those of Josephine ; and, loving her as she 
deserved to be beloved, he held his union with her the more 
intimate, that there was attached to it, he thought, a spell, 
affecting his own destinies, which had ever seemed most pre- 
dominant, when they had received the recent influence of Jo- 
sephine's presence. 

" Fouche, the minister of police, the boldest political in- 
triguer of his time, discovered speedily to what point the em- 
peror must ultijnately arrive ; and seems to have meditated 
the ensuring of his own power and continuance in favour, by 
taking the initiative in a measure, in which, perhaps. Napoleon 
might be ashamed to break the ice, in person. Sounding art- 
fully his master's disposition, Fouche was able to discover, that 
the emperor was struggling between the supposed political ad- 
vantages to be derived from a new matrimonial union, on the 
one hand, and, on the other, love for his present consort, habits 
of society which particularly attached him to Josephine, and 
the species of superstition which we have already noticed. 
Having been able to conjecture the state of the emperor's 
inclinations, the crafty counsellor determined to make Josephine 
herself the medium of suggesting to Buonaparte, the measure 
of her own divorce, and his second marriage, as a sacrifice 
necessary to consolidate the empire, and complete the happi- 
ness of the emperor. 

" One*evening, at Fontainbleau, as the empress was returning 
from mass, Fouche detained her in the embrasure of a window 
in the gallery ; while, with an audacity almost incomprehensi- 
ble, he explained, with all the qualifications his ingenuity could 
suggest, the necessity of a sacrifice, which he represented as 
equally sublime and inevitable. The tears gathered in Joseph- 
ine's eyes — her colour came and went — her lips swelled — and 
the least which the counsellor had to fear, was, that his advice 
had brought on a severe nervous affection. She commanded 
her emotions, however, sufficiently to ask Fouche, with a fal- 
tering voice, whether he had any commission to hold such lan- 
guage. He rephed in the negative, and said that he had ven- 
tured on such an insinuation, from his having predicted, with 
certainty, what must come to pass, and from his desire to turn 



152 THE LIFE OF 

her attention to what so nearly concerned her glory and hap- 
piness. 

" In consequence of this interview, an impassioned and inter- 
esting scene is said to have taken place, between Buonaparte 
and his consort ; in which, he naturally and truly disavowed 
the communication of Fouche, and attempted, by every means 
in his power, to dispel her apprehensions. But he refused to 
dismiss Fouche, when she demanded it, as the punishment due 
to that minister's audacity, in tampering with her feelings ; and 
this refusal alone might have convinced Josephine, that, though 
ancient habitual affection might, for a time, maintain its influ- 
ence in the nuptial chamber, it must, at length, give way, before 
the suggestions of pohtical interest, which were sure to pre- 
dominate in the cabinet. 

" On the thirtieth of November, Napoleon made Josephine 
acquainted with the cruel certainty, that the separation was 
ultimately determined upon. But, not the many months which 
had passed since the subject was first touched upon, by Fouche; 
not the conviction which she must have long since received 
from various quarters, that the measure was unalterably fixed, 
could strengthen her, to hear the tongue of her beloved husband 
announce, what was, in fact, though not in name, a sentence 
of repudiation."* 

" The storm," relates De Bausset, "burst forth on the thir- 
tieth of November. Their majesties went to table. Josephine 
wore a large white hat, tied under her chin, which concealed 
a part of her face. I thought, however, I perceived that she 
had been weeping, and that she then restrained her tears with 
difficulty. She appeared to me the image of grief and despair. 
The most profound silence reigned throughout the dinner ; and 
they touched the dishes that were presented to them, out of 
mere form. The only words uttered, were those addressed to 
me, by Napoleon, — " How is the weather ?" — In pronouncing 
them, he rose from table. Josephine followed slowly. Coffee 
was served, and Napoleon took himself the cup which was held 

* The foregoing preliminary of the manner in which the intended 
divorce was communicated to the empress Josephine, is nearly a 
hteral extract from Scott's Life of Napoleon ; with only a few occa- 
sional alterations, where the language was grossly ungrammatical, or 
remarkably ungraceful in the style ; faults for which that work is 
signally distinguished : indeed, so hasty, and slovenly, and chaotic a 
production, is a disgrace to the literature of the present age; and 
would sink the reputation of almost any other writer, than Sir Walter 
Scott. 



NAPOLEON. 153 

by tlie page on duty, and gave the sign that he wished to be 
alone. I immediately retired ; but, restless, and a prey to my 
sad thoughts, I sat down in the attendance room, which was 
commonly used for their majesties to dine in, in an arm-chair, 
on the side of which was the door to the emperor's room. I 
was mechanically watching the servants, who were clearing 
the table, when, on a sudden, I heard violent cries from the 
empress Josephine, issue from the emperor's chamber. The 
usher of the chamber, thinking she was taken ill, was on the 
point of opening the door, when I prevented him, observing, 
that the emperor would call for assistance, if he thought it 
necessary. I was standing close to the door, when the emperor 
himself opened it, and, perceiving me, said quickly, — ' Come 
in, Bausset, and shut the door.' I entered the chamber, and 
saw the empress Josephine stretched on the carpet, uttering 
piercing cries and complaints. ' No, I will never survive it,' 
said she. — Napoleon said to me, ' are you sufficiently strong to 
raise Josephine, and to carry her to her apartments, by the 
private staircase, in order that she may receive the care and 
assistance that she requires ?' I obeyed, arid raised the princess, 
who, I thought, was seized with a nervous affection. With the 
aid of Napoleon, I raised her into my arms, and he himself 
taking a hght from the table, opened the door, which, by an 
obscure passage, led to the little staircase, of which he had 
spoken. When we reached the first step, I observed to Napo- 
leon, that it was too narrow, to permit me to descend, without 
the danger of falling. He immediately called the keeper of 
the portfolio, who, day and night, was in attendance at one of 
the doors of his closet, the entrance to which was on the land- 
ing-place of this little staircase. Napoleon gave him the 
lamp, of which we had now little need, for the passages had 
become light. He 'commanded the keeper to go on before, 
and took himself the feet of Josephine, in order to assist me in 
descending with less difficulty. At one moment, however, I 
was embarrassed by my sword, and I thought we must have 
fallen, but at length we descended, without any accident, and 
deposited the precious burthen upon an ottoman in the sleeping- 
chamber. Napoleon immediately pulled the little bell, and 
summoned the empress's women. When I raised the empress 
in the chamber, she ceased to moan, and I thought that she 
had fainted ; but at the time I was embarrassed by my sword, 
in the little staircase, of which I have already spoken, I was 
obliged to hold her firmly, to prevent a fall, which would have 
been dreadful to the actors in this melancholy scene. I held 



154 THE LIFE OF 

the empress in my arms, which encircled her waist, her back 
rested against my chest, and her head leaned upon my right 
shoulder. When she felt the efforts which I made, to prevent 
falling, she said to me, in a very low tone, — ' You press me too 
hard.' — I then saw that I had nothing to fear for her health, 
and that she had not, for an instant, lost her senses. 

" During the whole of this scene, I was exclusively occupied 
with Josephine, whose situation afflicted me : I had not power 
to observe Napoleon ; but, when the empress's women had 
come, he retired to a little room, in front of the sleeping-cham- 
ber, and I followed him. His agitation and inquietude were 
extreme. In his distress, he made me acquainted with the 
cause of every thing that had happened, and said to me these 
words : — ' The interest of France and of my dynasty, does vio- 
lence to my heart — the divorce has become a rigorous duty to 
me — I am the more afflicted by what has happened to Joseph- 
ine, because three days ago, she must have learned it from^ 
Hortensia : — the unhappy obligation which condemns me to 
separate myself from her — I deplore it with all my heart, but I 
thought she possessed more strength of character, and I was 
not prepared for the bursts of her grief.' 

" The emotion which oppressed him, caused him to make a 
long pause between each phrase that he uttered, in order to 
breathe. His words came from him with labour, and without 
connexion ; his voice was tremulous, and oppressed, and his 
eyes were moistened with tears. It seemed as if he were beside 
himself, to give so many details to me, who was so far removed 
from his councils and his confidence. 

" The whole of this transaction did not occupy more than- 
seven or eight minutes. Napoleon immediately sent persons 
to seek for Corvisart, queen Hortensia, Cambaceres, and 
Fouche ; and, before he returned to his apartment, he assured 
himself of the condition of Josephine, whom he found more 
calm and more resigned. 

" This divorce produced no division in the family. The em^- 
peror always continued the most tender friend of Josephine, 
and preserved a truly paternal affection, all his life, for the 
viceroy and queen Hortensia. Josephine was then forty-six 
years of age, and it was impossible for her to possess more 
graceful manners and appearance. The expression of her eyes 
was enchanting, her smile was full of charms, and the whole 
of her features and her voice, were extremely gentle : her figure 
was nobje, flexible, and perfect ; the purest taste, and the most. 



NAPOLEON. 155 

consummate elegance, presided at her toilet, and made her 
appear much younger than she really was. 

" But all these brilliant advantages were nothing, when com-^ 
pared with the goodness of her heart. Her wit was pleasing 
and gay ; it never wounded the feelings of any one, and never 
gave birth to any thing disagreeable. Devoted to Napoleon, 
she communicated to him her sweetness and her good-nature, 
without his perceiving it, and gave him, in a jesting manner, 
advice, which more than once proved useful. 

" The moment of weakness which seized her, when she 
heard her fate from the mouth of Napoleon, was the only one 
that she exhibited. She made it her glory to conquer herself, 
and to devote herself to the new duties which were traced out 
to her, without apparent effort. I even believe she was more 
happy, less dependent, and more herself, than at the Tuileries; 
where her life was often mingled with constraint, in the infinity 
of little trifles, and of court details, from which she was liber- 
ated, by this new species of emancipation. Having no other 
desires, than to conform to the tastes and habits of Napoleon, 
she was often obliged to receive and to show kindness to per- 
sons who were not of her taste : she was nearly always com- 
pelled, also, to repair to table, and to wait for the emperor, 
who, deeply engaged in his cabinet, forgot the hour. The 
dinner was regularly served at six o'clock : — it happened one 
day, or rather one evening, that Napoleon forgot the announce- 
ment which had been made to him, until eleven, and, on leaving 
his closet, he said to Josephine, — ' I think it is rather late ?' — 
' Past eleven o'clock,' replied she, laughing. — ' I thought I had 
dined,' said Napoleon, sitting down to table. 

" This self-denial was a virtue which Josephine had to exer- 
cise on more than one occasion. Napoleon was perfectly right, 
when he said : — ' I win nothing but battles, while Josephine, 
by her goodness, wins all hearts.' 

On the sixteenth of December, the design to dissolve his 
marriage, was formally announced, to the conservative senate ; 
and on the same day, the law, authorizing the divorce, was 
enacted. Josephine was allowed to retain the title of empress, 
during her life, and took up her residence at the villa of Mal- 
maison, near St. Germains. Here, she principally dwelt, during 
her remaining years ; which were spent chiefly in cultivating the 
fine arts ; but especially in the almost daily practice of benevo- 
lence and charity. 
^jj.„ On the eleventh of March, the nuptials between Na- 
poleon and Maria Louisa, were celebrated, by proxy, 



156 THE LIFE OF 

at Vienna ; and, on the first day of April, the parties were 
joined in matrimony, at Paris, by Napoleon's uncle. Cardinal 
Fesch. 

Every husband, every father, humanity itself, must revolt, at 
this demoralizing act. The beautiful and accomplished woman ; 
the partner of his youth ; the prudent counsellor ; the faithful 
friend ; the beloved and virtuous wife ; the ornament of his 
imperial court ; the moderator of his angry passions ; — who 
sympathized with him, in his afflictions, and rejoiced with him, 
in his joys : — from such a woman, as this, what Man could 
part ! 

The most splendid festivals were given, on this important 
occasion. But a great calamity occurred, which embittered 
the relish for these numerous fetes. Prince Schwartzenberg 
had given a distinguished ball ; when, unhappily, the dancing- 
room, which was temporary, and erected in the garden, caught 
fire. Several persons perished, and amongst the number, the 
sister of the prince himself; — a tragic incident, which diffused 
a damp over the public mind, and was considered as a bad 
omen ; especially, when it was remembered, that the marriage 
of Louis XVL, with a former princess of Austria, had been 
signalized by a similar disaster. 

" It was, at first, generally, indeed almost universally imag- 
ined," says an impartial historian, " that the archduchess was 
an unwilling, though resigned victim, to the preservation of her 
family — another virgin of Gilead, obedient to the calls of fihal 
reverence and duty ; but no supposition could be more errone- 
ous. It soon appeared, how much of the blood of the Lor- 
raines, flowed in her veins; and, so early did she begin to 
identify herself with the French nation, and to exult in the 
glory of her future lord, that, according to the foreign journals, 
she, one day, before she left Vienna, hastened eagerly into her 
father's apartment, and announced to him a French victory, 
in the peninsula, by exclaiming, in a tone of triumph. We have 
obtained great advantages, in Spain." 

Maria Louisa, however, confessed afterwards to the emperor, 
that, when her marriage with him was first proposed, she could 
not help feeling a kind of terror, owing to the accounts which 
she had heard of him, from the individuals of her family. When 
she mentioned these reports to her uncles, who were very 
urgent for the marriage, they replied, — " That was all very 
true, while he was our enemy ; but the case is altered now." 

One of the young archdukes had frequently burned his dolls, 
which he called roasting Napoleon. He afterwards declared, 



NAPOLEON. 157 

that he would not roast him any more, for he loved him very 
much, because he had given his sister Louisa plenty of money 
to buy him playthings. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

DETHRONEMENT OF NAPOLEON. 

RENEWAL OF THE WAR WITH RUSSIA BURNING OF MOSCOW 

DISASTROUS RETREAT OF THE FRENCH ARMY BATTLE OP 

LEIPSIC PARIS ENTERED BY THE ALLIES NAPOLEON DE- 
THRONED, AND EXILED TO ELBA RESTORATION OF THE 

BOURBONS. 

In the midst of the nuptial ceremonies, the affairs of Holland, 
gave no small degree of uneasiness to Napoleon's mind. The 
urgent petitions of his subjects, had so far prevailed over the 
mild and liberal disposition of his brother Louis, that he open- 
ed the Dutch ports, and repealed his decrees against British 
commerce. This conduct of the tributary sovereign, having 
been highly resented, by the emperor, Louis abdicated the 
thro!ie of Holland, and, on the ninth of July, that kingdom was 
united, by Napoleon, to the French empire. 

Ever since the commencement of the revolutionary war, 
Sweden had maintained a most obstinate resistance to the 
domination of the French. The affairs of this kingdom, how- 
ever, had now become desperate. Gustavus Adolphus, whose 
romantic disposition baffled all the ordinary calculations of pru- 
dence, had embarked his country in a war, to which its re- 
sources were totally inadequate. Russia had conquered nearly 
the whole of Finland; and the army having learned that it was 
the determination of the king to measure his strength against 
the empires both of Russia and France, there was excited uni- 
versal discontent, throughout Sweden ; and a confederacy was 
formed against Gustavus, which, on the thirteenth of March, 
terminated in his expulsion from the throne. The duke of 
Sudermaniii, uncle of the deposed monarch, was chosen king, 
under the title of Charles XHL ; the former relations, between 
France and Sweden, were revived; and Napoleon prevailed 
upon his new ally, to join in excluding British commerce from 
the Baltic. Charles Augustus, prince of Augustenburg, who 
had been elected crown-prince, or heir apparent to the Swe- 

O 



168 THE LIFE OF • ' 

dish throne, when reviewing a body of troops, in the month of 
May, in the following year, (1810) dropped dead, from his 
horse ; and, on the fifteenth of August, the four estates of Swe- 
den elected, to the vacant dignity, marshal Bernadotte, prince 
of Ponte Corvo; who, on the d6ath of Charles XIII., succeeded 
to the vacant throne, and, at the instigations of Napoleon, but 
contrary to his own inclination, was constrained to issue a 
(declaration of war against Great Britain. 

This distinguished officer was married to a sister of Joseph 
Buonaparte's wife, daughter of a respectable individual, named 
Clary ; and had conciliated the friendship of the Swedes, by 
his conduct when governor of Pomerania. 

On the peninsula, the progress of Napoleon, began to expe- 
rience a check. Another British army, of about thirty-thousand 
men, under the command of sir Arthur Wellesley, having arrived 
in the Tagus, the French were soon driven out of Portugal. 
The British forces then advanced into Spain, with the design 
of obtaining possession of Madrid; and, having formed a junc- 
tion with general Cuesta, the united armies, consisting of about 
sixty-thousand men, took a strong position at Talavera, on the 
Tagus, in the province of New Castile. 

Here, they were attacked, on the twenty-seventh of July, 
(1809) by marshal Victor ; but all his efforts were unsuccessful, 
and the allied troops remained in possession' of their ground. 
The French repeated the attack, about midnight; but were 
again repulsed, with great slaughter. Both armies passed the 
night on the field; and several partial engagements were fought, 
before the dawn of the following day. These nightly combats 
v/ere conducted with most determined fury : the men, after 
they had discharged their fire-arms, frequently closed, and beat 
out each other's brains, with their muskets. At day-break, 
on the following morning, the French advanced, with three 
regiments, against an eminence, occupied by general Hill : but 
here, again, they were resisted, with the bayonet, and driven 
back : leavin^f the field covered with their slain. About eleven 

7 D 

o'clock, the assailants suspended the attack, and dined on the 
field of battle. Wine and bread were, at the same time, served 
out to the British troops ; and during this pause, in the work 
of destruction, the men, in both armies, repaired to a brook, to 
quench their thirst ; and stooped to the stream, in the presence 
of each other, without molestation ; while numbers of them 
shook hands, across the rivulet, before the battle recommenced. 
About noon, the conflict was renewed. But no impression 
could be made, upon the British line. Marshal Victor was 



NAPOLEON. 159 

again repulsed ; but retreated in the most regular order, across 
the Alberche. 

The battle of Talavera will always hold a high rank, in the 
annals of destructive war. The loss, on both sides, was severe: 
that of the French, in killed and wounded, was about ten-thou- 
sand men; the loss of the allied army, above six thousand. 

The campaign of the ensuing year, opened with an aspect 
favourable to France. Having forced the passages of the 
Sierra Morena, the French made themselves masters of Gre- 
nada and Andalusia. In consequence of this irruption, the 
Spanish patriot government, or Cortes, retired, from Seville, 
to Cadiz. In the mean time, Massena, formerly duke of Rivoh, 
but who, from his bravery, on the Danube, was now distinguish- 
ed by the title of the prince of Esling, having command of the 
grand army of France, made preparations for the conquest of 
Portugal. Sir Arthur Wellcsley, now created, on account of 
his brilliant exploits, viscount Wellington, having retired, a few 
days after the battle of Talavera, upon Lisbon, took a strong 
position at Torres Vedras ; Massena having followed his move- 
ments, and encamped directly in his front. The position occu- 
pied by the British general, was strong, by nature, but rendered 
^pi-i impregnable, by art: Massena, therefore, seeing it was 
impossible to attack the British army, with any prospect 
of success, began his retreat; being severely harassed by lord 
Wellington, who followed closely, in his rear. 

Nor were the hostile generals less active, in other quarters 
of the peninsula. On the eighth of May, marshal Beresford, 
who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Portuguese 
army, invested the strong fortress of Badajoz. But, on receiv- 
ing information, that the duke of Dalmatia was advancing to 
its relief, the British general raised the siege ; and, being joined 
by the Spanish generals, Castanos and Blake, prepared to meet 
the French. On the sixteenth of May, they encountered, at 
Albuera; where was fought one of the most sanguinary battles 
of the whole war ; the French having lost nearly a half, and 
the allies almost a third of their numerous troops. The latter 
purchased the victory with the loss of six-thousand men ; while 
the former, having been driven over the small river Albuera, 
with the loss of nine-thousand, returned towards Seville. Within 
the circumscribed space, where the battle raged, not less than 
seven-thousand men were stretched dead upon the field ; and 
the rain, which ran from the heights, reddened the rivulet, with 
blood. 

In the eastern part of Spain, the operations of the French 



160 THE LIFE OF 

were successful. On the twenty-eighth of June, marshal Su- 
chet carried Tarragona, by assault ; on the twenty-sixth of 
October, he made himself master of the castle of Murveidro, 
built on the ruins of the ancient Saguntum ; and, on the twenty- 
sixth of December, defeated general Blake, who took refuge 
in Valencia. 
.o.c> On the ninth of January, Suchet gained possession 
of this important city ; general Blake, and the garrison 
of sixteen-thousand men, having surrendered prisoners of war. 
These signal achievements obtained, for marshal Suchet, the 
title of duke of Aibufuera. But the acquisition of Valencia, 
was counterbalanced, by the loss of Ciudad Rodrigo, and 
Badajoz ; which were taken by lord Wellington ; not, however, 
until he had sustained a very considerable loss. 

After the reduction of the two last mentioned cities, lord 
Wellington marched into the interior of Spain ; and entered 
Salamanca, in triumph. A grand scene of military operations, 
was, soon afterwards, opened. The French army, commanded 
by marshal Marmont, duke of Ragusa, began, on the evening 
of the sixteenth of July, to make a series of intricate move- 
ments, preparatory to the battle of Salamanca ; which com- 
menced on the twenty-second, about two, in the afternoon,, 
and continued until night. This action terminated in the total 
defeat of the French. But the allies purchased their victory 
with the loss of five-thousand men, placed hors de combat ; that 
of the French being much greater, besides seven-thousand 
prisoners, and a severe wound received by their commander. 

One of the first consequences of the defeat at Salamanca, 
was the evacuation of Madrid, by the intrusive king ; and the 
surrender of that capital, to lord Wellington, on the twelfth of 
August — the birth-day of the prince regent of England. 

Soon afterwards, the British commander adva'nced to Bur- 
gos, and gained possession of some of the outworks : but he 
failed, in all his attempts, against the castle, and at length re- 
tired, from before the place, with great loss. The British 
troops were, in the month of October, withdrawn from Madrid, 
and that city was again entered by the brother of Napoleon. 
In the mean time, the different Spanish corps, together with 
the guerillas — a sort of irregular militia — had several success- 
ful skirmishes, with the French ; and, in the autumn, the latter 
withdrew from before Cadiz, and evacuated all the south of 
Spain. 

The colonial aflTairs of Napoleon, during the peninsular strug- 
gle, exhibited nothing but disaster. There was not now re- 



NAPOLEON. 161 

maining, either to Fraiice or Holland, a single colony, either 
in the eastern or the western hemisphere ; their jflags were 
expelled from the ocean, and their commerce almost totally 
destroyed. 

Even had Napoleon succeeded in the subjugation of Spain, 
he would have seized a victim, undecked with the accustomed 
honours, for the sacrifice ; the vast provinces of the American 
Indies, having rejected the domination of their European pa- 
rent, and finally established their independence. 

But the deprivation suffered, by Napoleon, in the loss of his 
colonies, was trifling, in comparison with the disasters which 
he was now preparing for himself, in the north. The friend- 
ship which apparently cemented the emperor of France, with 
the autocrat of Russia, was affected, by Alexander, no longer 
than necessity constrained him. By the treaty of Tilsit, the latter 
had bound himself to accede to the " continental system ;" and 
to exclude, from his ports, all British manufactures and colonial 
produce. It was found, however, impossible for Alexander to 
adhere to that engagement. The merchants remonstrated, on 
the loss of their most profitable commerce ; the nobles were 
indignant at the degradation of their country ; and Alexander 
was, at length, induced to admit the forbidden commodities, by 
special license, and in neutral ships. Nor was the Russian 
emperor the only infractor of the peace of Tilsit. Napoleon 
had seized the dominions of the duke of Oldenburg, the brother- 
in-law of Alexander, and refused to withdraw his troops from 
Prussia and Swedish Pomerania ; and thus, instead of having 
a neutral territory interposed between Russia and France, gar- 
risons were held, in convenient readiness, to invade, at any 
time, the Russian borders. 

In the beginning of the present year, both emperors made 
preparations against the approaching storm. The army of 
Napoleon, amounted to at least four-hundred-thousand men ; 
three-fourths of whom were French ; the remainder, consisting 
of the troops of the Confederation of the Rhine, a body of 
Prussians, and auxiliaries from Italy, commanded by the king 
of Naples. 

On the twenty-second of June, Napoleon arrived on the banks 
of the Niemen. On the twenty-fourth, he passed that river, 
three leagues beyond Kowno. When the head of the French 
emperor's column, had reached the bank, he advanced, in per- 
son, to reconnoitre, when his horse stumbled, and threw him. 
— " A bad omen," said a voice ; but whether that of Napoleon, 
or one of his suite, could not be distinguished : — " a Roman 

02 



162 THE LIFE OF 

would return." — On the Russian bank, appeared only a single 
Cossack ; who challenged the first party of the French that 
crossed the river, and demanded their purpose, in the territories 
of Russia: — " To beat you, and advance to Wilna," was the 
reply ; when the Cossack withdrew, nor was another soldier 
then seen. 

The French army pushed forward, with great rapidity, to 
Wilna. Little opposition had hitherto been given, to the in- 
vaders. The plan of defence, resolved upon, by the Russians, 
was not, in the early stage of the campaign, to risk a general 
battle ; but only to retard their progress, by a bold resistance, 
at all points where a stand could easily be made, and to deso- 
late the country around them. 

On the twenty-eighth of June, Napoleon entered the capital 
of Russian Poland. Here, having proclaimed the re-establish- 
ment of the kingdom of Poland, the national enthusiasm was 
excited, in his favour, and the ranks of his armies swelled, by 
Polish levies ; and, soon afterwards, Austria lent her powerful 
aid, in the subversion of her northern rival. 

In the beginning of July, the Hetman Platolf, with his Cos- 
sacks, left Grodno, and proceeded to Mir. On the seventh, 
he encountered the advanced guard of the French army, under 
Jerome Buonaparte, which he drove back, with great slaughter ^ 
and, on the following day, he repulsed a still stronger force, 
under the Polish chief, Rominski. Yet, notwithstanding these 
partial advantages, in ten days after the opening of the cam- 
paign, the advanced posts of the invading army were on the 
Dwina ; and nearly all Lithuania, a country containing four- 
millions of inhabitants, was conquered. 

A ponderous volume would be required, to give only a brief 
narrative of the battles which ensued. On the seventeenth of 
August, the Russian General, Witgenstein, dislodged marshal 
Oudinot from his intrenched camp, at Polotsk ; and, on the 
other hand, the French gained a dearly purchased victory, at 
Smolensko. Here, the Russians had determined to make their 
first stand. The French were commanded by Napoleon, in 
person ; the Russians, by general Barclay de Tolly. The battle 
continued to rage, after the sun had withdrav/n his light. The 
city was soon afterwards on fire : at two o'clock, in the morn- 
ing, the French grenadiers advanced, to mount the breach, but 
they were astonished at meeting no resistance; and soon dis- 
covered that the place was entirely evacuated. All the streets 
were covered with the bodies of expiring Russians ; over which» 
the flames shed a melancholy glare, which aggravated the hor- 



NAPOLEON. 163 

rors of the surrounding scene. When Napoleon entered the 
city, he found it a heap of ruins ; and, in an agony of disap- 
pointment, he exclaimed, " Never did defence assume so hos- 
tile a shape, against the common feelings of self-preservation : 
— these people treat their country as if they were its enemies!" 

The French continued to advance; the Russians, to retreat. 
On the morning of the twenty-ninth, the invaders arrived at 
Viasma ; a town which had contained ten-thousand inhabitants, 
but when entered, by the French, was a deserted heap of ruins. 

At this period, the chief command of the Russian army, was 
transferred from Barclay de Tolly, to his elder in commission, 
prince Kutusoff; a general grown hoary in arms, and now re- 
turned from waging a successful war against the Turks. That 
he might the better defend Moscow, he took a strong position, 
at a village, situated on an elevated plain, called Borodino. On 
the fifth of September, Napoleon appeared before the place. 
The morning of the seventh, at length arose, and thousands 
beheld the dawn, for the last time. Two-thousand pieces of 
artillery broke the pause of expectation, and aroused at once 
all the horrors of war. A veil of smoke shut out the combatants 
from the sun, and left them no other light, by which to pursue 
the work of death, than the flashes which blazed from the mus- 
ketry and cannon. The sabres of forty-thousand dragoons, 
met each other, clashing in the horrid gloom, and the moving 
ramparts of countless bayonets, strewed the earth with slain. 
This was the most sanguinary battle, of modern times. Fif- 
teen-thousand of the Russians were killed, and thirty-thousand 
wounded ; nor was the advantage claimed by the French army, 
gained with a much smaller sacrifice of human life. The vic- 
tory was claimed also by the Russians ; but an impartial his- 
torian can award the bloody palm to neither. The Russians 
failed in their object, whicii was to arrest the progress of their 
enemy : — the French, at the close of the battle, were obliged 
to retire, for several miles ; and, while Tc Deum was perform- 
ing, at St. Petersburgh, the French army arrived before the 
walls of Moscow. 

An interesting incident occurred, to the French emperor, 
before the battle of Borodino. An officer brought him a por- 
trait of his infant boy, the young Napoleon, king of Rome, 
(born the twentieth of March, 1811,) which he displayed on 
the outside of his tent ; to satisfy not only the officers, but the 
soldiers, who crowded to behold the resemblance of their great 
chieftain's son. 

The fourteenth of September was the day, on which the 



164 THE LIFE OF 

French entered the ancient capital of the Czars. The city 
had, however, been nearly deserted, by its two-hundred-and- 
fifty-thousand inhabitants ; and, scarcely had the French taken 
up their residence, within the sacred precincts of the Kremlin, 
when Moscow appeared, at different quarters, in flames. — The 
governor, Rostopchin, by whose orders this sacrifice was made 
— the most sublime act of patriotic devotion, ever contemplated 
by the mind of man — had ordered the fire-engines to be de- 
stroyed ; and the invaders were too intent on plunder, to sup- 
ply their place, by those persevering exertions, by which, alone, 
the progress of the devouring element might have been arrest- 
ed. On the morning of the sixteenth, a violent wind arose^ 
which spread the flames, in every direction. The whole ex- 
tent of this ancient capital, seemed, at length, a sheet of flame, 
a wilderness of fire ; and the sky was hidden from the view, by 
a dense column of rolhng smoke. The lofty palaces of the 
luxHrious noble — the clay-built cottages of the wretched boor 
— the bazaars, loaded with the costly merchandise of the east 
— the churches, with their beautiful steeples, resplendent as 
gold — sunk, in chaotic ruin : the hospitals, containing more 
than twenty-thousand wounded Russians, began to burn, and, 
with nearly all their helpless inmates, were soon consumed ; — 
and, in six days after Napoleon had entered, in silent triumph, 
into Moscow, only one-tenth part of a city, twenty-six miles in 
circumference, remained, as a cover to the unhfippy victors. 

Napoleon now saw himself reduced to a level with common 
mortals ; and all the horrors of his situation, at once, opened 
to his view. His soldiers were deprived of shelter, his stores 
were exhausted, his supplies intercepted, his troops were be- 
come the victims of famine and disease. Like the duke of 
Brunswick, when he led the German confederacy, to crush the 
growing liberties of revolutionary France, his pride was hum- 
bled, he paused in his wild career, and saw that all things can 
be accomphshed by God alone. For the first time, in his 
eventful life, he sued for peace. Thrice, did he tender the 
oHve-branch, to Alexander; and thrice was it rejected, by the 
indignant Czar. He would enter into no treaty, until his do- 
minions were evacuated by the French. 

On the sixteenth of October, Napoleon prepared to retreat 
from Moscow ; and, on the nineteenth, before day-break, after 
an abode of thirty-four days, the grand army, amounting to 
about one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand men, left the city, 
taking the great road to Kalouga. In his advance, he had 
left strong garrisons at Smolensko, and other places of ioi- 



NAPOLEON. 165 

portance, to command the route. A council of war was held, 
in the head-quarters of the en)peror, the iiut of a poor weaver, 
divided by a screen, which was the only partition. Here, he 
received and meditated on the reports of his generals, together 
with their opinions, and learned, to his distress, that Bessieres, 
and other skilful officers, reported that the position occupied 
by KutusofFwas unassailable. He resolved to judge, with his 
own eyes, on the next day ; and, in the mean time, turned a 
deaf ear to the information that the Cossacks were stealing 
through the woods, and insinuating themselves between him 
and his advanced guard. 

At the dawning. Napoleon mounted his horse, in order to 
reconnoitre, and incurred, in the attempt, a great risk of his 
freedom, or his life. It was about day-break, when, attended 
by his staff and a few soldiers, he crossed the little plain on the 
northern side of the I^ouja, in order to gain the bridge; the 
level ground was suddenly filled with fugitives, some black 
masses appearing in their rear. At first, their cries seemed to 
be those of Vive VEmpereur; but the wild hourra of the Cos- 
sacks, and the swiftness of their advance, soon announced the 
children of the desert. " It is the Cossacks," said general 
JRapp, seizing the reins of the emperor's bridle. — " You must 
turn back." — Napoleon refused to retreat, drew his sword, as 
did his attendants, and placed himself on the side of the high- 
way. Rapp's horse was wounded, and borne down by one of 
these impetuous lancers ; but the emperor and suite preserved 
their liberty, by standing their ground, while the cloud of Cos- 
sacks, more intent on plunder, than prisoners, passed them, 
within lance's length, without observing the inestimable prey 
that was within their grasp, and threw themselves upon some 
carriages, that were more attractive. — 'I'he Hetman PlatofT 
had promised, as a reward, for Napoleon's head, his daughter, 
in marriage, with a princely fortune. — The arrival of the cav- 
alry of the guard, cleared the plain of this subtle and pertina- 
cious enemy; and Napoleon proceeded to cross the river, and 
ascend the further bank. 

The defeat, suffered by the king of Naples, at Tauratino, was 
counterbalanced, in the battle of Malo-Jaroslavitz ; but, with 
this dearly-bought advantage, the sun of Napoleon's Russian 
victories sunk below the horizon, to rise no more. A scene 
of horrors now commenced, such as never before darkened 
the historic page. FHght and disgrace, fatigue, famine, and 
pestilence, were before the French soldier — misery in all its 
various aspects. The pursuing Russians attacked the retreat- 



166 THE LIFE OF 

ing army, in the rear — -other bodies of regular forces, inter- 
cepted their advance, in front — while thousands of ambuscading 
Cossacks, every w^here assailed them, on their flanks. Men 
and horses, worn out with fatigue, tiould scarcely drag them- 
selves along; and, as soon as the horses fell, exhausted, the 
soldiers eagerly divided the carcasses amongst themselves, and 
hastened to broil the flesh, upon the coals, for food. Suffering 
yet more from cold, than from hunger, they abandoned their 
ranks, to warm themselves by the hastily kindled fires ; but, 
when they w^ished to rise, their frost-bitten limbs refused their 
oflice, a partial insensibility crept over them, and many pre- 
ferred falling into the hands of the enemy, to making further 
efforts for the continuation of their route. While the right of 
the French army was menaced by Platofl^, the left was pressed 
upon, by the main Russian army, under Kutusoff". On the 
sixth of November, the atmosphere, which had hitherto been 
clear, became darkened and chilled, with vapoury clouds. The 
thermometer fell to twenty-eight degrees below the freezing 
point. The sun, darkened by thick mists, disappeared from 
their sight ; and snow, falHng in large flakes, obscured the day. 
The wind howled dreadfully through the forests ; while the 
country around, as far as the eye could reach, presented the 
appearance of savage wildness. The soldiers, vainly struggling 
with the snow and the tempest, which rushed upon them with 
the force of a whirlwind, could no longer distinguish the road; 
and, falling into ditches, many of theto there found their graves. 
Others pressed on, towards the end of their journey, scarcely 
able to drag themselves along ; — without food, badly clothed, 
and shivering with cold ; becoming selfish, through despair, 
they afforded neither succour, nor the glance of pity, to those 
who expired around them. 

From that day, the army lost its courage, and its military 
attitude. The soldier no longer obeyed his colonel ; the colonel 
separated himself from his general. The horses fell by thou- 
sands. The cannon and the baggage, which were now aban- 
doned, served only to obstruct their way ; and, no sooner did 
the soldiers separate themselves from their corps, than they 
were assailed by a population, eager to avenge the horrors in- 
flicted upon their country. The French soldiers were without 
shoes, and almost without clothes. Sitting on their knapsacks, 
they slept upon their knees ; and from this benumbing position, 
they arose, only to broil some slices of horse-flesh, or to melt 
a few morsels of ice. 

A horse grenadier of the imperial guard, presented himself 



NAPOLEON. 167 

at one of the fires of the bivouac. This brave man uras covered 
with rags, of various colours, and had nothing left, of his hand- 
some uniform, but his sabre and some slireds of the fur of his 
cap, with which he protected his head, ears, and a part of his 
face. The cold, which, in the language of one of his com- 
panions, " vitrified his breath," caused a number of isicles to 
hang from his mustachios and the fur which covered his face. 
He had but a single boot ; the foot which had been so unfor- 
tunate as to lose its proper covering, was wrapped in ^ piece 
of old cloth, tied round his leg with a strip of leather. His 
figure was tall, and even elegant, and his features showed se- 
verity, calmness, and resignation. He displayed a piece of 
linen, which served him as a handkerchief; and, approaching 
the fire to dry it, said, " Come, I must do my washing." When 
it was quite dry, he carefully scraped up the tobacco which it 
contained, and wrapped it in a piece of dirty paper, which he 
used as a snuff-box. He observed, in a lively tone, " We are 
in a bad plight, but it is all the same ; we have beaten them 
well: these Russians are nothing but beginners." 

The retreat was covered by marshal Ney, who, for his sin- 
gular good conduct, and devotion to the service of his fellow- 
soldiers, was hailed, by his imperial master, as " the bravest of 
the brave." 

Napoleon reached Smolensko, on the ninth of November ; 
and on the tenth, the first instance occurred, of a French corps 
surrendering, without firing a gun. 

On approaching the Beresina, Napoleon had stretched him- 
self on a miserable couch, and apparently slumbered, while his 
faithful servants Duroc and Daru, sitting in his apartment, 
talked over their critical situation. In their whispered con- 
versation, the words " prisoner of state" reached the sleepless 
ears of Napoleon. — " Howl" said he, raising himself, *' do you 
think they would dare ?" — In reply, Daru mentioned the phrase, 
well known to the emperor, of state policy^ as a tiling inde- 
pendent of public law or of morality. — " But France," said the 
emperor, to whom state policy sounded less pleasantly than 
when appealed to for directing some great movement of hi^ 
own: — "what will France say?" — "Who can answ^er that 
question. Sire?" continued Duroc; at the same time, adding, 
" that it was his warmest wish that the emperor, at least, could 
reach France, were it through the air, if earth were stopped 
against his passage." 

" Then, I am in the way, I suppose," said Napoleon. — "You 
are, Sire," rephed Duroc. 



168 THE LIFE OF 

" And you," continued the emperor, with an affectation of 
treating the matter Hghtly, " have no wish to become a prisoner 
of state." — " To be a prisoner of war, is sufficient for me," 
said Duroc. 

Napoleon was silent, for a time, then asked if the reports of 
his ministers were burned. — " Not yet," was the reply. — " Then 
let them be destroyed ; for it must be confessed we are in a 
lamentable condition." 

This was the strongest sign, yet given, of Napoleon's deeply 
feelincp the situation to which he had reduced himself In 
studying the map, to discover the fittest place to pass the 
Beresina, he approached his finger to the country of the Cos- 
sacks, and was heard to murmur, " Ah, Charles XII. — Pul- 
tawa." But these were only momentary ejaculations, dictated 
by a sense of his condition : all his resolutions were calmly and 
firmly taken, with a sense of what was due to his followers and 
himself 

On the twenty-seventh, he crossed the Beresina, at the vil- 
lage of Studzianca. On the morning of the twenty-eighth, the 
bridge for carriages and cavalry, broke down ; and the baggage 
and artillery advancing towards the bridge intended for the in- 
fantry, there arose a scene of horror and confusion, that cannot 
be described. Numbers perished by the hands of their com- 
rades, but a greater number were suffocated at the head of the 
bridge ; and the bodies of men and horses, so choked every 
avenue, that it was necessary to climb over mountains of dead, 
in order to reach the river. Some, buried in these horrible 
heaps, still breathed, and, struggling with the agonies of death, 
caught hold of those who mounted over them. The cannon- 
balls struck the miserable crowds, the shells burst in the midst 
of them ; and terror and despair took possession of every heart. 
Hundreds were crushed to death, by the wheels of the cannon; 
others, hoping to save themselves by swimming, were frozen, 
in the midst of the river; thousands, deprived of hope, threw 
themselves into the Beresina, and perished in the waves ; while 
crowds upon crowds, still pressing towards the burning bridge, 
choking up the passage, amidst bursting flames, the whole, at 
length, sunk, with a tremendous crash, into the bosom of the 
river. 

On the fourth of December, Napoleon reached Smorgoni. 
Here, having heard of a conspiracy, formed against his govern- 
ment, by general Maret, he appointed the king of Naples his 
lieutenant-general, and, committing himself and his fortunes to 
a sledge, in which was Cauhncourt, duke of Vizenza, as his 



NAPOLEON. 169 

companion, he abandoned the remains of his once formidable 
host ; and, pursuing his rapid journey, on the tenth of Decem- 
ber, he arrived at Warsaw. 

Here, the Abbe de Pradt, then minister of France to the 
Diet of Poland, was in the act of endeavouring to reconcile the 
various rumours which poured in, from every quarter, when a 
figure, like a spectre, wrapped in furs, which were stiffened by 
hoar frost, stalked into his apartments, supported by a domes- 
tic, and was with difficulty recognised, by the ambassador, as 
the duke of Vizenza. 

"You here, Caulincourt 1" said the astonished prelate — 
" And where is the emperor ?" 

" At the hotel d' Angletere, waiting for you." 

" Why not stop at the palace ?" 

"He travels incognito." 

"Do you need any thing?" 

" Some Burgundy or Malaga." 

" All is at your service — but whither are you travelling ?" 

" To Paris." 

" To Paris ! — but where is the army?" 

" It exists no longer," said Cauhncourt, looking upwards. 

" And the victory of the Beresina — and the six-thousand 
prisoners ?" 

" We got across, that is all : — the prisoners were a few hun- 
dred, who have escaped. We have had other business, than to 
guard them." 

His curiosity thus far satisfied, the Abbe de Pradt hastened 
to the hotel. In the yard stood three sledges, in a shattered 
condition : — one for the emperor and Caulincourt ; the second, 
for two officers of rank; the third, for his favourite Mameluke, 
Rustan, and another domestic. He was introduced, with some 
mystery, into a miserable room of a wretched inn, where a ser- 
vant girl was blowing a fire, made of green wood. Here, was 
the emperor, whom the Abbe had last seen when he played 
king of kings, amongst the assembled sovereigns, at Dresden. 
He was dressed in a green pelisse, covered with lace, and lined 
with furs ; and, by walking briskly about the apartment, was 
endeavouring to obtain the warmth which was refused by a 
half-kindled fire. He saluted " Monsieur I'Ambassadeur," as 
he termed him, with gayety. The Abbe felt a movement of 
sensibility, to which he was disposed to yield : but he limited 
his expressions of devotion, to helping to pull off Napoleon's 
cloak. He heard, from his minister, that the minds of the 
inhabitants of the Grand Dutchy had been much changed since 

P 



170 THE LIFE OF 

they had despaired of the liberation of their country; and that 
they were, already, since they could not be free Polanders, 
studying how to reconcile themselves to their former governors 
of Prussia. The entrance of two Polish ministers, checked the 
ambassador's communication. The conversation was main- 
tained, from that moment, by Napoleon alone ; or rather he 
indulged in a monologue, turning upon the idea he entertained, 
that the failure of his Russian expedition would diminish his 
reputation, while he struggled against the painful conviction, 
by numbering the plans by which he might repair his losses, 
and alleging the natural obstacles to which he had been obhged 
to yield. 

" We must levy ten-thousand Poles," he said, " and check 
the advance of these Russians. A lance and a horse are all 
that is required. — There is but one step between the sublime 
and the ridiculous." 

The functionaries congratulated him on his escape from so 
many dangers. 

" Dangers !" he replied ; " none in the world. I live in agi- 
tation. The more I bustle, the better I am. It is for kings 
of Cockaigne, to fatten in their palaces — horseback and the 
field are for me. — From the sublime, to the ridiculous, there is 
but a single step. — Why do I find you so much alarmed, here ?" 

" We are at a loss to gather the truth, about the news from 
the army." 

*' Bah," rephed the emperor; "the army is in a superb con- 
dition. I have a hundred-and-twenty-thousand men — I have 
beaten the Russians in every action — they are no longer the 
soldiers of Friedland and Eylau. The army will recruit at 
Wilna. — I am going to bring up three-hundred-thousand men. 
• — Success will render the Russians fool-hardy — I will give 
them battle twice or thrice upon the Oder, and, in a month, I 
will be again on the Niemen. I have more weight on my 
throne, than at the head of an army. Certainly, I quit my 
soldiers with regret ; but I must watch Austria and Prussia, 
and I have more weight seated on my throne, than at the head 
of an army. All that has happened, goes for nothing — a 
mere misfortune, in which the enemy can claim no merit. 
— I beat them every where — they wished to cut me off at 
the Beresina — I made a fool of that ass of an admiral — 
(He could never pronounce the name TchitchuzofF) — I had 
good troops and cannon — the position was superb — five-hun- 
dred toises of marsh — a river — " This, he repeated twice, 
then ran over the distinction in the twenty-ninth bulletin, be- 



NAPOLEON. 171 

tvveen men of strong and of feeble minds, and proceeded, — " I 
have seen worse affairs, than this. — At Marengo, I was beaten 
till six o'clock in the evening — next day, I was master of Italy. 
— At Esling, that archduke tried to stop me. — He published 
something or other. — My army had already advance/i i^ajf a 
league. — I did not even condescend to make any disposition. 
All the world knows how such things are managed, when I am 
in the field. I could not help the Danube's rising sixteen feet, 
in one night. — Ah ! but for that, there would have been an 
end of the Austrian monarchy. But it was written, in heaven, 
that I should marry an archduchess. — In the same manner, in 
Russia, I could not prevent its freezing. They told me, every 
morning, that I had lost ten-thousand horses, during the night. 
— Well, farewell to you!" — He bade them adieu five or six 
times, in the course of the harangue, but always returned to 
the subject. — "Our Norman horses," he continued, "are less 
hardy than the Russian : — they sink under ten degrees of cold 
(below zero.) It is the same, with the men. Look at the 
Bavarians : there is not one left. — Perhaps, it may be said, that 
I stopped too long at Moscow : — that may be true ; but the 
weather was fine — the winter came on prematurely — besides, 
I expected peace. On the fifth of October I sent Lauriston 
to treat. I thought of o-oinir to St. Petersburoh, and I had time 
enough to do so, or to go to the south of Russia, or to Smo- 
lensk. Well, we will make head at Wilna : — Murat is left 
there. Ha, ha, ha ! It is a great political game. Nothing 
venture, nothing win. — It is but one step from the sublime to 
the ridiculous. The Russians have shown they have character 
— their emperor is beloved by his people — they have clouds 
of Cossacks — it is something, to have such a kingdom: the 
peasants of the crown love their government — the nobihty are 
all mounted on horseback. I made regular v/ar upon the em- 
peror Alexander; but who could have expected such a blow 
as the burning of Moscow ? — that sacrifice would have done 
honour to ancient Rome." 

The fire went out, and the counsellors listened in frozen 
despair, while, keeping himself warm, by walking up and down, 
and by his own energies, the emperor proceeded in his mono- 
logue ; now betraying feelings and sentiments which he would 
have concealed; now dwelling upon that which he wished 
others to believe. 

His passage through Silesia being mentioned, he answered, 
in a doubtful tone, " Ha, Prussia ?" — as if questioning the se- 
curity of that route. At length, he determined to depart; 



172 THE LIFE OF 

interrupted the respectful wishes for the preservation of his 
health, with the brief assurance, that he " could not be in bet- 
ter health, were the very devil in him ;" and threw himself into 
the humblfi d^^gp. which carried the destinies of Europe. The 
: — -^c sprung forward, nearly overturning the carriage as it 
crossed the court-yard gate, and disappeared in the gloom of 
night. 

Continuing his journey in secrecy, on the fourteenth of De- 
cember, Napoleon arrived at Dresden; and, pursuing his course 
with unabated rapidity, by the way of Leipsic and Mentz, at 
midnight, on the eighteenth, he entered Paris. 

Napoleon and his attendant were not readily admitted into 
the Tuileries, at so late an hour. Two figures, muffled in furs, 
entei ed the ante-room, and one of them directed his course ta 
the door of the empress's sleeping-chamber. The lady in wait- 
ing hastened to throw herself between the intruder and the 
entrance ; bat, recognising the emperor, she shrieked aloud, 
and alarmed the empress. Their meeting was most affectionate,, 
and showed, that, although he had been deserted by fortune, he 
still enjoyed the tender sympathies of a loving wife. 

It is difficult to ascertain the loss of the French army, in this 
dreadful campaign. No official statement has ever been pub- 
lished, by the French; but, it is probable, that, of nearly four- 
hundred-thousand troops, not fifty-thousand were suffered to 
escape from Russia. 

1 R1 "^ With Alexander at their head, the victorious Russians 
still continued the pursuit. On the fourth of March, 
they entered Berlin ; where they were received, not as enemies,, 
but as friends — not as invaders, but as liberators from the gall- 
ing chains of France. The nations which had been constrained 
to submit to the overwhelming power of Napoleon, now re- 
solved to throw off the yoke. Prussia set the example ; which 
was followed by several more of the German states ; and the 
crown-prince of Sweden, Bernadotte, joined in the great north- 
ern league. 

In the mean time, the shattered remains of the French army,^ 
having received some reinforcements, concentrated upon the 
Elbe. The spring had not far advanced, before all traces of 
the Russian disasters, were effaced. The three-hundred-and- 
fifty-thousand conscripts, however, now levied, in France, con- 
tained a much larger proportion, than was usual, of boys ; as 
well as numbers of men beyond the appointed age for mihtary 
service. 

The king of Prussia, having offered his mediation, between 



NAPOLEON. 173 

the allied sovereigns and Napoleon, the latter rejected the lib- 
eral terms proposed as the basis of pacification ; and Frederick 
WiUiam joined the confederation against France. Prince 
Kutusoff having, about this period, died, general Witgenstein 
was invested with the chief command of the allied armies. 

On the fifteenth of April, Napoleon, having appointed the 
empress regent, left Paris. On the first of May, he defeated 
the confederates, at Lutzen ; on the twentieth, at Bautzen ; and 
the next day, at Hochkirk, after one of the most sanguinary 
engagements recorded in military annals. In the battle of 
Lutzen, marshal Bessieres was killed ; and at Hochkirk, Na- 
poleon had to deplore the loss of his faithful associate in arms, 
marshal Duroc. At this period of the campaign, an armistice 
was negotiated, between the belligerants, by the emperor of 
Austria ; but, Napoleon having refused to concur in the terms, 
proposed by the allied sovereigns, for the restoration of the 
balance of power, in Euro]3e, Francis joined the confederacy 
against the husband of his daughter; and, on the tenth of Au- 
gust, hostilities recommenced. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, 
and Prussia ; Sweden, Spain, and Portugal ; were ranged on 
one side : France, Holland, and Denmark ; Italy, Bavaria, and 
Saxony, and the minor states of Germany ; on the other. 

On the twenty-sixth of August, Napoleon entered Dresden. 
The Russian, Prussian, and Austrian, armies, were then before 
the city, commanded by their respective sovereigns, in person. 
They resolved, if possible, to expel the French ; but, finding 
themselves in danger of being intercepted in their communica- 
tion with Bohemia, they determined to retreat ; and. Napoleon 
sallying out upon the retiring army, there ensued a series of 
engagements, in which twenty-five-thousand prisoners were 
taken from the allies ; and general Moreau, who had left his 
exile, in the United States, and joined the Russian army, on 
the invitation of Alexander, received a mortal wound. He 
was conversing with the emperor, surrounded by a brilliant 
assemblage of imperial officers, when Napoleon ordered a dozen 
cannon-balls to be throAvn, at once, amongst the group ; one 
of which passed through the general's horse, and carried off 
both his legs. — The advantage, however, gained, by Napoleon, 
before Dresden, was, soon afterwards, counterbalanced, by the 
defeat and capture of general Vandamme, and his army of ten- 
thousand men, by the Russian commander, count Osterman ; 
also, by the discomfiture of several other corps, by the Prussian 
general Blucher; and, by one of Napoleon's former generals, 
the crown-prince of Sweden. 

P 2 



174 THE LIFE OF 

But all these engagements, were only a prelude to the great 
and decisive battle of Leipsic ; where the arm of the giant was 
broken, and the eagles of France were once more stripped 
of their brilliant plumes. This mighty struggle commenced 
on the sixteenth of October ; a day which will ever be distin- 
guished, in the narrative of great events. Never^ on the en- 
sanguined fields of Europe, had any military operations been 
exhibited, on so grand a scale. The allies were commanded 
by the Austrian general, prince Schwartzenberg, the crown- 
prince Bernadotte, and marshal Blucher. Napoleon, with his 
ablest generals, commanded the troops of France. The sev- 
enteenth was occupied, by the French, in replacing the eighty- 
thousand cannon-balls, fired, by them, on the preceding day ; 
and, by the allies, in bringing up their reinforcements. On the 
eighteenth, prince Schwartzenberg determined to execute the 
design of the allied sovereigns, and to bring the fate of Europe 
to its final crisis. At two o'clock, in the morning. Napoleon 
was on the ground. The sun arose, and the combatants began 
the work of death. At no period, had human blood been 
spilled upon a wider field. The theatre of their operations 
extended over a circle of many miles ; within which, the life 
of man was wasted, at the same moment, by the mouths of fif- 
teen-hundred pieces of cannon. In the battle, were assembled, 
three emperors, two sovereign princes, and the heir-apparent 
to a crown ; more than half-a-million of warriors formed the 
combatants, and the stake at issue, was nothing less than the 
independence of continental Europe. At three o'clock, in the 
afternoon, victory still hovered between the two armies, when 
seventeen battalions of Wirtemberg and Saxon troops, went 
over to the enemy. This defection of their German auxiliaries,^ 
caused an opening in the French lines. Disorder now pre- 
vailed, in Napoleon's ranks ; the allies established themselves 
on the left bank of the Partha, and soon advanced within half 
a league of Leipsic. The French army had, within five days^ 
expended two-hundred-and-twenty-thousand cannon-balls; their 
ammunition was nearly exhausted, and a further supply could 
be obtained only at Magdeburg or Erfurt. The evening had 
scarcely closed, when the army began to defile ; and the whole 
nio'ht of the eighteenth, was occupied in the retreat. Napoleon,, 
with the main body of his guards, remained in the vicinity of 
Leipsic, until the morning of the nineteenth ; when the victo- 
rious army of the confederates, made every preparation, to 
storm his last strong hold. At nine o'clock, the bombardment 
recommenced ; the French were assailed, in all directions, with 



NAPOLEON. 175 

the bayonet ; and notwitlistanding the obstinacy of their de- 
fence, they were overthrown, in every quarter, and put com- 
pletely to the rout. 

Napoleon did not quit Leipsic, until a few minutes before 
the entrance of the allies. Before his departure, he had order- 
ed the engineers to form a mine, under the great bridge, be- 
tween Leipsic and Lindenau ; with directions to blow it up, 
when all the French troops had marched over ; and thus to 
retard the advance of their pursuers. This duty, by a strange 
neglect of the colonel, charged with its execution, was confided 
to a corporal and four sappers ; who, ill comprehending the 
nature of the service, upon hearing the first shot discharged 
from the ramparts of the city, set fire to the mine, and blew 
up the bridge. When this explosion took place, the whole of 
the rear-guard of the French army, under marshal Macdonald 
and prince Poniatowski, were still on the Leipsic side of the 
river, with a park of eighty pieces of cannon, and several hun- 
dred wagons. A cry of dismay spread through the ranks, on 
the approach of the troops to the river. — " The enemy are 
close upon our rear, and the bridges are destroyed !" — was 
heard, on every side. The soldiers dispersed, and were all 
either killed or taken prisoners ; marshal Macdonald swam 
across the river; but Poniatowski, less fortunate, plunged into 
the Elster, and sunk, to rise no more. 

The battle of Leipsic was alike momentous, as regarded the 
extent of its operations, and the character of its result. The 
French had fifteen general officers captured, amongst whom 
were generals Regnier and Lauriston : two-hundred-and-fifty 
pieces of cannon, and fifty-thousand prisoners, including the 
king of Saxony, and all his court, fell into the hands of the 
alhes, besides several eagles and stands of colours. In a few 
weeks afterwards, fifty-thousand more of the French army sur- 
rendered ; thus reducing their numbers, within a month, one- 
hundred-and-forty-thousand men. 

^oiA Meanwhile, the victories of lord Wellington, in Spain, 
particularly at Vittoria and St. Sebastian, had enabled 
him to drive the French army over the Pyrennees, and gain a 
firm footing in France. On the twelfth of March, a division, 
commanded by marshal Beresford, occupied Bourdeaux; where 
the mayor, and the principal inhabitants, assumed the white 
cockade, and declared for the Bourbons. The defection of the 
dependent states, became universal. Holland, as well as Swit- 
zerland, cast off the Buonapartean yoke ; and the prince of 
Orange being invited, by the unanimous voice of the Dutch 



176 THE LIFE OF 

nation, returned, from England, after an absence of nineteen 
years, and was reinstated in his former sovereignty ; while, at 
the same time, Denmark and Naples acceded to the grand 
alliance. 

In the short space of a year, two armies of Frenchmen had 
been lost. The month of January had not elapsed, before the 
energies of Napoleon, aided by the enthusiastic veneration of 
the people, brought a third army into the field ; unripe, indeed, 
in years, inexperienced in military discipline, but quick in re- 
ceiving instruction, and zealous to repel the invaders of their 
native soil. The confederate armies, under prince Schwartzen- 
berg and marshal Blucher, had followed the relics of the re- 
treating French ; and, on the twentieth of December, in the 
preceding year, had passed the Rhine. Never did the military 
genius of Napoleon, shine forth, with so resplendent lustre, as 
in the long series of murderous conflicts that ensued ; never 
had he exposed his person to so much danger. Leading on 
his cavalry to the charge, he penetrated through the most solid 
masses of the opposing foe. Surrounded by enemies, four times 
the number of his own troops, he foiled them, in almost every 
attempt to intercept his movements ; and repulsed the musta- 
choed veterans of the invading armies, with beardless boys. 
Like the fabled bird of antiquity, he seemed to rise more glo- 
rious from the ashes of his former ruin ; and, like the expiring 
lamp, to shine with a loftier flame, at the moment of his ex- 
tinction. Twice, did he refuse offers of pacification, on condi- 
tion that the boundaries of France should be the Pyrennees, 
the Alps, and the Rhine. But his enemies, at length, achieved, 
by their superior numbers, what they were unable to accom- 
plish by their skill. Taking the advantage of a movement made 
by Napoleon, intended to intercept their supposed retreat upon 
the Rhine, the allies proceeded rapidly in an opposite direction; 
and, on the twenty-ninth of March, appeared before the feeble 
walls of Paris. Yet, so obstinate was the defence, made by 
Joseph Buonaparte, and marshals Marmont and Mortier — the 
artillery being, for the most part, served by the students of the 
polytechnic school, boys of from twelve to fourteen years of 
age— that, had not Napoleon given orders, that the capital 
should not be defended to extremity, the allied sovereigns 
would, most likely, have been repulsed, after havijig raised a 
countervallation, around the city, with their slain. The hazard, 
however, to the citizens, from a protracted defence, was great, 
should an infuriated soldiery, in the end, prevail.- — Yielding, 
therefore, to overruling necessity, and prudence, the imperial 



NAPOLEON. 177 

family retired, to a place of safety ; and the capital was sur- 
rendered, by capitulation, after a bombardment of eleven hours, 
on the thirtieth of March. 

On the morning of the thirty-first, the royalists were seen in 
groups in the Place Louis Quinze, the garden of the Tuileries, 
the Boulevards, and other places of general resort. They dis- 
tributed the proclamations of the alhes, and raised the long 
forgotten cry of Vive le Roi! At first, none, except those 
engaged in the perilous experiment, durst repeat so dangerous 
a signal ; but, by degrees, the crowds increased, the leaders 
mounted on horseback, and distributed white cockades, lihes, 
and other emblems of attachment to the Bourbons. The ladies 
of the royal party came to their assistance. The princess of 
Leon, viscountess of Chateaubriand, countess of Choiseuil, and 
other women of high rank, joined the procession, distributing, 
on all sides, the emblems of their party, and tearing their 
dresses to make white cockades, when those which they had 
brought with them were exhausted. The better class of the 
burgeois, began to catch the flame, and remembered their old 
royalist opinions, and by whom they were defeated in the battle 
of the sections, when Napoleon laid the foundation of his fame, 
in the discomfiture of the national guards. Whole picquets 
began to adopt the white, instead of the tri-coloured cockade ; 
yet the voices were far from unanimous, and, at many places, 
parties of different principles met and skirmished together, in 
the streets. 

But the tendency to discord was soon diverted, and the atten- 
tion of the Parisians, of all classes and opinions, suddenly con- 
centrated upon the imposing and terrible spectacle of the allied 
army, which now began to pour its columns into the captured 
city. 

The sovereigns had previously received, at the village of 
Pantin, the magistrates of Paris'; and Alexander had expressed 
himself in language still more explicit, than that of their proc- 
lamation. He made war, he said, on Napoleon alone; one 
who had been his friend, but had relinquished that character, 
to inflict great evils upon his empire. He had not, however, 
come, to retaliate those injuries, but to make a secure peace, 
with anv sovernment which France might choose for herself. — 
" I am at peace," continued the emperor, " with France, and 
at war with Napoleon alone." 

An immense crowd filled the Boulevards — a large open 
promenade, which, under a variety of distinctive names, forms 
a circuit around the city — to witness the entrance of the allied 



178 THE LIFE OF 

sovereigns and their army, whom this volatile people were now 
disposed to regard rather as friends than enemies, — a disposi- 
tion which increased, until it amounted to enthusiasm for the 
persons of those princes, against whom a sanguinary contest 
had been maintained only the day before. Even at their first 
entrance within the barriers, the crowd was so enormous, as 
well as the acclamations so great, that it was difficult to move 
forward ; but, before the monarchs had reached the gate of St. 
Martin, to turn on the Boulevards, it was impossible to proceed 
further; all Paris seemed to be assembled and concentrated to 
one spot — one spring evidently directed all their movements. 
They thronged around the monarchs, with the most unanimous 
shouts of " Long live the emperor Alexander ! — Long live the 
king of Prussia !" mingled with the loyal exclamations, " Long 
live the king ! — Long live Louis XVIIL ! — Long live the Bour- 
bons !" 

The procession continued several hours ; during which, fifty- 
thousand chosen troops of the grand army filed along the Bou- 
levards, in broad and deep columns ; exhibiting a whole forest 
of bayonets, mingled with long trains of artillery, and preceded 
by numerous regiments of cavalry, of every description. After 
making the circuit of the half of Paris, by the interior Boule- 
vards, the monarchs halted in the Champs Elysees, and the 
troops passed in review before them, as they were dismissed to 
their respective quarters in the city ; none of the various na- 
tions exciting so much curiosity, as the Cossacks ; whose ap- 
pearance was most picturesque, loaded as they were with the 
plunder of a long campaign, placed, for the most part, beneath 
their saddles, which vi^ere thus raised, a considerable height, 
above their horses' backs, while geese, turkeys, and every other 
species of domestic fowls, were dangling from their saddle-bows 
and the sides of their prancing steeds. 

When the imperial family had reached the palace of Ram- 
bouillet — situated about twenty-seven miles south-west of Paris 
— the emperor of Austria sent a message to Maria Louisa, 
saying that he would breakfast with her. Apprised of his ap- 
proach, the empress, followed by her son, her ladies who had 
not left her, and the officers of her household, w^ent to the very 
bottom of the stairs leading to the palace-gate. The emperor's 
calash stopped ; he instantly alighted, and, when he came to 
the empress, she took her son from the hands of madame de 
Montesquieu, and quickly placed him in his grandfather's arms, 
before she herself received his first embraces. This action, so 
natural to the feelings of a mother, produced a visible emotion 



NAPOLEON. 179 

on the features of her father. Perhaps, at that moment, he 
repented having listened to old resentments, and was sorry that 
he had seconded the efforts of the other powers. 

The emperor Alexander, also, came after wai*ds to breakfast 
with the empress. He was so agreeable, and so much at his 
ease, that a spectator would have been almost induced to be- 
lieve that no serious event had occurred, at Paris. After 
breakfast, the czar asked of the empress pennission to see her 
son ; and, turning to the prefect, with whom he had become 
acquainted in the north, he said : " M. de Bausset, will you 
have the goodness to conduct me to the apartments of the little 
king ?" When Alexander saw the child, he kissed him, exam- 
ined him attentively, and loaded him with caresses. He said 
many flattering things to madame de Montesquiou ; and, before 
going away, again kissed " the little king," whose father he 
had just assisted to dethrone. 

While two-hundred-thousand men were preparing to enter 
the capital of Napoleon, the unconscious hero was enjoying a 
few hours' repose, at a small inn, about four leagues from Paris. 
Informed of the surrender of the city, he collected all his troops, 
at Fontainbleau, amounting to sixty-thousand men, and an- 
nounced his intention of marching to the capital, and expelling 
the invaders. General Belliard reminded him, that there were 
no longer any troops in Paris — " It matters not," said Napo- 
leon ; " I will find the national guard there. The army will 
join me to-morrow, or the day after, and I will put things on a 
proper footing." — " But, I must repeat to your majesty," re- 
joined Belliard, " that you cannot go to Paris. The national 
guard, in virtue of the treaty, mount guard at the barriers ; 
and, though the alUes are not to enter until seven o'clock in 
the morning, it is possible they may have found their way to 
the out-posts, and that your majesty may find Russian or Prus- 
sian parties at the gates, or on the Boulevards." — " It is all 
the same," returned Napoleon, "I am determined to go there. 
— My carriage ! — Follow me, with your cavalry." — " But, sire, 
your majesty will expose Paris to the risk of storm or pillage. 
More than twenty-thousand men are in possession of the 
heights : for myself, I have left the city in consequence of a 
convention, and cannot therefore return." — "What is that 
convention ? Who has concluded it ?" — " I cannot tell, sire ; 
I only know, from the duke of Treviso, that such exists, and 
that I must march to Fontainbleau." — " What is Joseph about ? 
Where is the minister at war?" — "I do not know: we have 
received orders from neither of them, the whole day. Each 



180 THE LIFE OF 

marshal acted on his own responsibility. They have not been 
seen to-day, with the army ; at least, not with the duke of Tre- 
viso's corps." — " Come, we must to Paris: — nothing goes on 
right, when I am absent — they do nothing but make blunders." 

But some of his marshals, had already given in their adhe- 
rence to the provisional government ; and a majority of the 
others, refused to aid in the romantic enterprise. On the fourth 
of April, therefore. Napoleon sent a deputation to the senate, 
offering to abdicate the throne, in favour of his infant son. 
But the Napoleon dynasty had ceased. The palladium of the 
French empire, was now in the possession of the allied sov- 
ereigns, and they determined to restore the Bourbons. They 
proposed, at the same time, to guarantee the personal safety 
of Napoleon and his family ; to allow all the nobility, of his 
creation, to retain their honours and estates ; to permit him to 
retire to the isle of Elba, which he was to hold, in full sove- 
reignty, during his life, with a yearly pension of two-millions 
of francs ; also, to retain the title of emperor ; and Maria 
Louisa, to have the dutchies of Parma, Guestalla, and Placen- 
tia, with succession to Francis Napoleon, her son. 

When the deputation returned. Napoleon listened to the 
news of the rejection of his proposition, as a matter which he 
had expected. But, recollecting his disinterested behaviour, 
when they parted, they were surprised when he almost instantly 
demanded, what provision had been made for himself They 
informed him, that it was proposed he should reside, as an inde- 
pendent sovereign, "in Elba, or somewhere else." Napoleon 
paused for a moment. " Somewhere else ?" he exclaimed. 
*' That must be Corsica. — Elba? Who knows any thing of 
Elba? Seek out some officer who is acquainted with Elba. 
Collect what books or charts can inform us about Elba." 

In a moment, he was as deeply interested in the position and 
capabilities of this little islet, as if he had never been emperor 
of France, and had nearly become the ruler of the world. After 
a night's consideration, he despatched Caulincourt and Mac- 
donald once more to Paris, to treat with the allies upon the 
terms of the unconditional abdication of the empire. " The 
allied powers," says the fallen chieftain, in the document to be 
presented to the sovereigns, " having proclaimed that the em- 
peror Napoleon is the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of 
peace in Europe, he declares, that he renounces, for .himself 
and his heirs, the throne of France and Italy, because there is 
no personal sacrifice, not even that of life itself, which he is not 
ready to make, for the interests of France." 



NAPOLEON. 181 

Maria Louisa made several efforts to join her husband, but 
they were discouraged by Napoleon himself, who, while he had 
continued to attempt a renewal of the war, could not desire to 
have the empress with him, exposed to so much danger. Shortly 
afterwards, the emperor of Austria visited his daughter and her 
son, then at Rambouillet, and informed her, that she was, for 
some time at least, to remain separate from her husband, and 
that her son and she were to return to Vienna, with himself. 

Having at length resigned himself entirely to his fate. Napo- 
leon, on the twentieth of April, prepared for his departure. 
But first he had the painful task of bidding farewell to that part 
of his army which was most attached to him, — his celebrated 
Imperial Guard. As many as could be collected, were drav/n 
out before him, in review. Tears dropped from his eyes, and 
his features had the marks of strong emotion, while reviewing, 
for the last time, as he must then have thought likely, tlie com- 
panions of so many victories. He advanced to them on horse- 
back, then dismounted, and took his solemn leave. " All Eu- 
rope," he said, " had armed against him : France herself had 
deserted him, and chosen another dynasty. He might," he 
said, "have maintained, with his soldiers, a civil war of years; 
but it would have rendered France unhappy. Be faithful," he 
continued, " to the new sovereign whom France has chosen. 
Do not lament my fate : I will always be happy, when I know 
that you are so. I could have died — nothing was easier — but 
I will always follow the road of honour. I will record, with 
my pen, the deeds we have done together. I cannot embrace 
you all, but I will embrace your general." — (he pressed Mac- 
donald to his bosom.) — " Bring hither the eagle." — (He em- 
braced the standard, and concluded,) — " Beloved eagle, may 
the kisses I bestow on you, long resound in the hearts of the 
brave ! Adieu, my children — Adieu, my brave companions : — 
Surround me once more — Adieu." 

On the same day, the ex-emperor departed, for his little insu- 
lar dominion, accompanied by generals Bertrand and Drouet, 
who retired with him to his place of exile ; and, on the third 
of May, Louis XVHL, elder brother of the decapitated mon- 
arch — who had, for several years, been residing in Great Brit- 
ain — after an expatriation of nearly twenty-five years, made his 
entry into Paris. 

Napoleon was escorted, on his journey, by four superior 
officers, acting as commissioners to the allied powers, together 
with one-hundred-and-fifty foreign troops; supported by "de- 
tachments, placed at a distance from each other. The cries 

Q 



182 THE LIFE OF 

of Vive VEmpereur ! which attended the departure of the im- 
perial cavalcade, were reiterated, in every town and village, 
from Fontainbleau to Moulins ; and the discontent of the pop- 
ulace, at the presence of the commissioners, and the object of 
their journey, was expressed in the most unqualified terms of 
abuse. At Lyons — which city Napoleon passed through, near 
midnight, on the twenty-third — a few persons were assembled, 
and saluted him with the cry so familiar to his ears in the day 
of his prosperity. 

But the troops belonging to marshal Augereau's corps, 
though wearing white cockades, received the emperor with mil- 
itary honours ; and their indignation was manifested, in no very 
equivocal terms, towards the commissioners in his suite. Here, 
however, his triumphs ended ; and his lacerated feelings were 
no longer soothed with the homage of acclamations. At 
Avignon, on the morning of the twenty-fifth, a great concourse 
of persons was assembled, and the emperor and his attendants 
were saluted with the cries of "Fz^^e le Roil Vivent les allies! 
A has Nicolas! A has le tyran, le coquin, le mauvais gueux!^^ 
— " Long hve the king ! Success to the allies ! Down with Nic- 
olas !^ Down with the tyrant, the rascal, the beggar!" — and 
even still coarser abuse. The conduct of the populace at Orgon 
and Aix, was equally insulting. At the former, a gallows was 
erected, exactly on the spot where the relays of horses stood ; 
from which, was suspended a figure, in French uniform, sprin- 
kled with blood, bearing a paper on its breast, with the in- 
scription : — 

" Tel sera, tot ou tard, le sort du Tyran /" 
'[" Such will be, sooner or later, the fate of a tyrant."] 

At Aix, the landlady, who did not recognise him, asked him: 
" Well, have you met Buonaparte ? I am curious to see how 
he will save himself. I do believe the people will murder him, 
and, it must be confessed, the scoundrel has well deserved it. 
But tell me, they are going to embark him for his island, are 
they not?" — "Certainly," rephed the emperor — "Ah! but 
they will drown him, I hope." — " Oh, without doubt," said the 
emperor. 

The adjutant of general Schunaloff, the Russian commission- 
er, was constrained to put on the blue great coat and round 



* A name applied familiarly to Buonaparte, when a student at the 
college of Brienne, and revived, as a terra of opprobrium, after his 
abdication ; under an erroneous idea, that JSTicolas was really his 
christian name. 



NAPOLEON. 183 

hat, in which the emperor had reached the inn ; that, in case 
of necessity, he might be insuUed, and even murdered, for him. 

He was quite rejoiced at general Roller's being taken for 
the emperor, in a conversation held by him with a French 
officer, a native of Corsica. Roller was obliged to put various 
questions to him, which Napoleon whispered in his ear ; and 
which led the officer to conclude that it must be the emperor 
who spoke with him, since no Austrian general could have so 
intimate a knowledge of the island. 

These repeated demonstrations of popular indignation, be- 
came so alarming, that Napoleon changed his dress, in his car- 
riage, soon after he left the town ; and, mounting a post-horse, 
rode on, before, in the character of a courier. At a small inn, 
on the other side of Orgon, the imperial suite stopped to din- 
ner ; and here, in a kind of charpber, the former ruler of the 
world was found, by the commissioners, buried in thought, with 
his head resting on his hand, and his countenance bedewed with 
tears. 

When his mind had resumed some degree of composure, he 
spoke freely of his political projects, while emperor of France; 
but he declared that now, every thing that could happen in the 
political world, was, to him, perfectly indifferent ; and he felt 
himself extremely happy, in anticipating the tranquil life, which 
he should pass in Elba, far from the intrigues of courts, and in 
the full enjoyment of political pursuits. Yes ! the throne of 
Europe might now, with safety, be offered to him — he would 
reject it : — this conduct of the French towards him, had evinced 
so black ingratitude, as entirely to disgust him with the ambi- 
tion of reigning. 

On the morning of the twenty-seventh, the emperor and his 
train, arrived in the neighbourhood of Frejus ; when, finding 
himself under the protection of a body of Austrian troops, he 
resumed his uniform, and once more occupied his own carriage. 
The Undaunted, an English frigate, under the command of 
captain Usher, (Napoleon having refused to sail in a French 
ship of war,) awaited his arrival ; and, at eleven o'clock in the 
night of the twenty-eighth, he embarked on board that vessel, 
under a salute of twenty-four guns, in the harbour of St. Ra- 
phor, where, fourteen years before, he had landed, on his re- 
turn from Egypt. 

During the five days passed at sea, the manners of the em- 
peror were usually courteous and condescending. General 
Roller and colonel Campbell, the two commissioners on the 
part of Austria and Great Britain, as well as the captain and 



184 THE LIFE OF 

first lieutenant of the frigate, were daily invited to his table ; 
and he frequently expressed his regret at the scenes which the 
two former had been called to witness, during the latter days 
of his journey, through the instigation, as he imagined, of the 
Bourbons. 

He inquired minutely respecting the discipline of the English 
frigate ; which he commended highly ; at the same time, assur- 
ing captain Usher, that, had he retained the imperial sovereignty 
only five years longer, he would have had three-hundred sail 
of the line. The captain very naturally inquired, how so many 
vessels were to have been manned. Napoleon replied, that he 
had resolved- upon a naval conscription, in all the sea-ports, 
and throughout all the sea-coast frontier of France, for the 
purpose of manning his fleet ; which was to be exercised in the 
Zuder Zee, until tit for servige on the ocean. This sort of 
fresh-water seamanship, caused no small degree of amusement 
to the veteran sailor. He scarcely suppressed a smile, as he 
replied, that the marine conscripts would make a sorry figure 
in a gale of wind. — He conversed on a variety of subjects, with 
great apparent frankness ; and seemed desirous in every respect 
to make himself agreeable to his companions on board. Even 
the seamen, who at first regarded him with wonder, mixed with 
surprise, did not escape the charm of his affability, by which 
they were soon won over ; all except the boatswain, Hinton, 
a tar of the old school ; who could never hear the emperor's 
praises, without muttering a vulgar but expressive phrase,* to 
indicate his dissent. The honest boatswain, however, was at 
length induced to think that Napoleon was not wholly without 
merit. When returning thanks, in the name of the ship's com- 
pany, for two-hundred iouis, with which the emperor presented 
them, he wished " his honour good health, and better luck the 
next time." 

¥/ith the same good humour, Napoleon admitted any slight 
jest that might be passed, even at his own expense. When ofi' 
Corsica, he proposed, that captain Usher should fire a gun, to 
bring-to a fishing boat, from which he hoped to hear some 
news. Captain Usher excused himself, saying, that, such an 
act of hostility, towards a neutral, v/ould denationahze her, in 
direct contradiction of Napoleon's doctrine concerning the 
rights of nations. The emperor shook his sides with laughter. 
At another time, he amused himself by supposing what admira- 
ble caricatures his voyage would produce, in London ; a spe- 

* Humbug J 



NAPOLEON. 185 

cies of graphic satire, with which he seemed wonderfully famil- 
iar, though so peculiarly English. 

On the third of May, the Undaunted arrived off the coast of 
Elba ; and, on the following day, the bee-studded flag of the 
Elbese empire floated over the watch-towers of Porto-Ferrajo. 
— The island was found to be in some confusion. The inhab- 
itants had recently been in a state of insurrection against the 
French, which had been quieted by the governor, and by the 
troops giving in their adherence to the Bourbons. This state 
of things naturally increased Napoleon's apprehension ; which 
had never entirely subsided since the dangers undergone by 
him in Provence. Even on board the English frigate, where 
he was so much respected, he had requested that a sergeant 
of marines might sleep, every night, on the outside of his cabin- 
door, a trusty domestic also mounting guard within. He now 
showed some unwillingness, when they reached the island, to 
the ship running close under the batteries ; and, when he first 
landed, in the morning, it was at an early hour, and in disguise, 
having previously obtained, from captain Usher, a sergeant's 
party of marines, to attend him. 

Having returned on board, to breakfast. Napoleon, about 
two o'clock, debarked, in form, upon this little speck' of sove- 
reignty — this mark, as it were, or memorial of his former great- 
ness — which seemed designed only to rest, for a while, his weary 
foot, and remind him of his sudden fall. On the beach, he was 
received by the governor, the prefect, and other oflicial persons, 
v/ith such means of honour as they possessed, and conducted 
in procession, under a canopy of old scarlet cloth, and preceded 
by a band of fiddlers ; the people welcoming their illustrious 
sovereign with shouts. 

In answer to a congratulatory oration from the municipal 
body of his new capital, the emperor assured them, that the 
mildness of the climate, and the gentle manners of the inhab- 
itants of Elba, had induced him to select this alone, of all his 
extensive possessions ; in the hope that the people would know 
how to estimate the distinction, and to love him as obedient 
children, while he should ever conduct himself towards them, 
as a provident father and sovereign. 

Elba is an island opposite the coast of Tuscany ; its popula- 
tion being about twelve-thousand, and its circumference about 
sixty miles. The air is healthy, except in the neighbourhood 
of the salt-marshes. The country is mountainous, the vegeta- 
tion florid ; its general appearance resembling Italy, and beau- 
tifully romantic. It produces little grain, but exports a con- 

Q2 



5S6 THE LIFE OF 

3iderable quantity of wines, and its iron-ore has been famou:g 
since the days of Virgil, who describes Elba as 

" Insula inexhaustis chalyhum generosa metallis.^'* 

Accompanied by sir Neil Campbell, Napoleon frequently 
rode around the shores of his little state. In one of these ex- 
ploring excursions, one or two of the poorer class of inhabit- 
ants, knelt, and even prostrated themselves, when they met him. 
He seemed disgusted, and imputed this humiliating degree of 
abasement, to the wretchedness of their education, under the 
auspices of the monks.. On these excursions, he betrayed the 
same apprehension of being assassinated, that had marked his 
journey to Frejus. Two couriers, well armed, rode before 
him, and examined every suspicious spot. But, as he climbed 
a mountain, above Ferrajo, and saw the ocean, in almost every 
direction, approach its foot, a good-humoured smile diffused 
itself over his expressive features, when he exclaimed, — " It 
must be confessed, my isle is very small!" 

Small, however, as was now the territorial possession of 
Napoleon, yet did he think it worthy of his most serious atten- 
tion. The energies of his ever-active mind, were immediately 
applied to complete the fortifications of his capital, improve 
the public roads, and add to the agricultural and mineralogicai 
resources of the island. " His days," says one of his attend- 
ants, " passed in the most pleasing occupations. All his hours 
were employed. That indefatigable activity which, in other 
times, he applied to execute the vast conceptions of genius, he 
employed, in the isle of Elba, in studying the embellishment of 
his retreat. In the morning, he shut himself up in his library. 
He often rose before the sun, and applied himself, for several 
hours, to study. About eight o'clock, he indulged in some 
relaxation, visited the works which he had projected, and spent 
a considerable time with his workmen, amongst whom were 
many soldiers of his guards. One of his first, and perhaps most 
characteristic proposals, was, to aggrandize and extend his 
little dominions, by the occupation of an uninhabited island, 
called Rinosa, which had been left desolate on account of the 
frequent descents of the Moorish corsairs. . He sent thirty 
soldiers on this expedition, sketched out a plan of fortifications, 
and remarked, with complacency, ' Europe will say that I have 
already made a conquest.' Whatever might be the state of 
the weather, he repaired daily to the chateau, at St. Martin ; 
and there, as in the city, he was occupied with the internal 



^ " An island yielding an inexhaustible supply of the hardest iron. 



NAPOLEON. 187 

management of his house, required an exact account of every 
thing, and entered into the smallest details of domestic and 
rural economy. Often, after breakfast, he reviewed his little 
army, consisting of about nine-hundred men, required the 
greatest regularity in their maneuvres, and caused them to 
observe the strictest discipline. After the review, he mounted 
his horse, for his morning ride, generally attended by marshal 
Bertrand and general Drouet, and in his excursion, frequently 
gave audience to those who met him. At dinner, all who were 
admitted to his table, were treated with cordiality and kindness; 
and he seemed to have discovered the secret of enjoying the 
most intimate and familiar society, without surrendering any 
part of his dignity. 

" Napoleon's household, though reduced to thirty-five persons, 
still held the titles, and affected the rank, proper to an imperial 
court. He displayed a national flag, having a red bend dexter, 
in a white field, the bend bearing three bees ; and, to dignify 
his capita], having discovered that the ancient name of Porto- 
Ferrajo was Comopoli — the city of Como — he commanded it 
to be called Cosmopoli, or the city of the world." 

When the emperor received the visits of strangers, which 
often happened, he entered freely into conversation. He fre- 
quently spoke of the last campaign — of his views and hopes — 
of the defection of his marshals — of the capture of Paris — and 
of his abdication : — on these topics, he would descant, with 
great earnestness, exhibiting, in rapid succession, traits of elo- 
quence — for in impassioned eloquence he was never surpassed, 
in any age — of military genius, of indignation, and of inordi- 
nate self-estimation. The chief violence of his rage, was di- 
rected against Marmont, for the surrender of Paris, and against 
Augereau, for the surrender of Lyons. " Had it not been," 
said he, on one occasion, " for that stupid beast of a general, 
who made me believe that it was Schwartzenberg who followed 
me to St. Dizier, while it was only Winzingerode ; and that 
other ass, who caused me to march afterwards upon Troyes, 
where I expected to meet forty-thousand Austrians, and did 
not find a cat ; I should have marched upon Paris, should have 
arrived there before the allies, and should not have been where 
I am now : but I have always been badly surrounded ; and 
then, those pick-thanks of prefects, who assured me that the 
levee en masse was organizing, with the greatest success ; lastly, 
that traitor Marmont finished the business ; but there were 
other marshals equally evil disposed — amongst the rest Suchet, 
who, as well as his wife, I have always known to be intriguers." 



188 THE LIFE OF 

For the allied continental troops, as compared with his own, 
he expressed the most profound contempt : the Prussians he 
considered the best ; but he would beat even them, he said, 
with one-third their number. In the vexation of his heart, 
however, he did justice to Blucher; " Ce vieux diabW — 
" That old devil," said he, " never gave me any rest. I beat 
him to-day — he attacked me to-morrow. I beat him in the 
morning, he was ready to fight again in the evening. He suf- 
fered enormous losses, and, according to all calculation, ought 
to have thought himself too happy, to be allowed to remain 
unmolested ; instead of which, he immediately advanced upon 
me again ; — ah ! le vieux diable!''^ 

About the middle of summer. Napoleon was visited by his 
mother, and his sister, the princess Pauhne. At this time, he 
seems to have expected to be rejoined also by the empress 
Maria Louisa ; who, it was said, was coming to take possession 
of her Italian dominions. Their separation, with the incidents 
which occurred before Paris, was the only subject on which 
Jie seemed to lose his temper. On these topics, he used strong 
and violent language. He said, that the interdicting him from 
the society of his wife and son, excited universal reprobation, 
at Vienna ; that no such instance of inhumanity and injustice, 
could be pointed out, in modern times ; that the empress was 
detained a prisoner, an orderly officer constantly attending her: 
— finally, that she had been informed, before she left Orleans, 
that she was to obtain permission to join him at the island of 
Elba, though it was now denied her. It was possible, he pro- 
ceeded, to perceive, in this separation, a shade of policy, though 
none of justice. Austria had meant to unite the child of her 
sovereign with the emperor of France, but desired to break 
off the intercourse with the emperor of Elba; as it might be 
apprehended, that the respect due to the daughter of the house 
of Hapsburg, had she resided with her husband, would have 
reflected too much lustre on the abdicated sovereign. 

About the middle of May, baron Roller bid farewell to Na- 
poleon, and returned to the Austrian court. Sir Neil Camp- 
bell, was now the only one of the four commissioners who 
continued to remain at Elba. It was difficult to say, what his 
office was, or what were his instructions. He had no author- 
ity to interfere with Napoleon's motions: the emperor had 
been recognised, by a treaty, as an independent sovereign. It 
was therefore only as envoy, that colonel Campbell could be 
permitted to reside at his court ; and as an envoy also not of 
the usual character for setthng affairs, concerning the court 



NAPOLEON. 189 

from which he was deputed, but in a capacity most invidious — 
not generally avowed — of observing the conduct of the court 
at which he was sent to remain. 

On the thirtieth of May, treaties of peace were signed, at 
Paris, between France and the confederated powers of Europe. 
The same hmits were assigned to France, that had formed her 
boundary, in the year 1792, before the revolutionary war. She 
also recovered all her colonies, except the islands of Mauritius 
and Bourbon, which were ceded to Great Britain. Belgium 
and Holland were united, and the whole was erected into a 
monarchy, called the kingdom of the Netherlands, under the 
sovereignty of the prince of Orange ; to which. Great Britain 
restored all the Dutch colonies, except the Cape of Good Hope, 
the island of Ceylon, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. The 
emperor Francis, recovered all his dominions, with the cities 
and territories of Venice. The pope was reinstated in his spir- 
itual and temporal authority ; and — amazing as it may appear 
— Murat was confirmed in the sovereignty of Naples. Spain 
and Portugal were restored to their ancient masters ; part of 
Saxony was annexed to Prussia ; while Norway was taken from 
Denmark, and assigned to Sweden. In a distinct article, be- 
tween France and England, Louis engaged to join his efforts, 
to the latter, to procure a total abolition of the slave-trade ; and 
to abolish it, with regard to France, at the end of five years; a 
humane stipulation, which he most shamefully evaded. 

Millions of human beings had bled in the revolutionary con- 
test, but their blood was not shed in vain. The lives of a whole 
generation, are not too high a price, with which to purchase 
the liberties of their posterity. France was not now subject 
to the nod of despotism ; nor were Frenchmen any longer 
treated, by the monarch, as born only to obey his will. They 
had risen, in their might, against oppression, and had broken 
the iron sceptre of the tyrant, to be repaired no more. Hence- 
forth, France was ruled by a limited monarchy, upon the model 
of that of England ; from which, have been framed the unri- 
valled constitution of the United States, and that of every other 
free country, throughout the world. 



190 THE LIFE OF 

CHAPTER XIII 

RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS. 
LOUIS XVIII. 

JlETURN OF NAPOLEON, FEOM ELBA BATTLE OP WATERLOO 

NAPOLEON EXILED TO ST. HELENA. 

noiA The restoration of the family of the Capets, after a 
lapse of so many years since their dethronement, is an 
event unparallelled in the history of kings. The generation 
which, from their infancy, had been taught to utter the accents 
of adulation to the Bourbons, had passed away ; and a new 
race of Frenchmen, at first reared in the principles of a repub- 
lic, and afterwards trained to offer incense at the foot of an 
imperial throne, became the subjects of a monarch, who, in 
penury and hopeless exile, had subsisted on the precarious 
bounty of foreign states. 

In the eye of reason, Louis XVIII. ascended his ancestral 
throne, by the right of conquest. The instability of such a title, 
could not be overlooked, even by a less sagacious monarch : — 
to identify, therefore, the officers and institutions of Napoleon, 
with his own dynasty, was a policy demanded to insure its 
safety. The French marshals had all sent in their adherence 
to the new government; but, to place it upon a still firmer 
ground of security, marshal Soult, whose military talents had 
ranked him amongst the most distinguished generals of the age, 
was appointed minister of war ; and Talleyrand, the early coun- 
sellor of Napoleon, one of the most consummate statesmen that 
ever lived, was elevated to the office of prime-minister ; while, 
at the same time, the king published a royal ordonnance, con- 
firming the establishment of the legion of honour ; and declared 
that it was his desire, that the sales of all property, made by 
the revolutionary tribunals, should remain undisturbed ; and 
that the emigrants should be restored to that portion of their 
estates, which had not been sold. 

These resolutions displayed no less the justice, than the wis- 
dom of the new king. But his general deportment, afterwards, 
was inconsistent with the moderation developed in the first days 
of his elevation ; and displayed a leaven of those erroneous 
notions, with respect to the divine right and natural legitimacy 
of monarchs, which had caused the head of his brother to be 
laid upon the block. 



NAPOLEON. 191 

,p. - The state of parties, in France, at the beginning of 
the present year, indicated a wide difference of opinions, 
entertained by large classes of the community ; and there was 
sufficient reason to apprehend, that these secret dissensions 
could not long subsist, without bursting into a flame. In the 
military class, in particular, who deeply felt the humihation of 
the French arms, the hostility to the reigning family was not 
long disguised. A spirit of military enterprise, still predomi- 
nated in the nation. A recent order, for the reduction, to 
half-pay, of all officers not actually employed, combined with 
the recall of the Swiss guards, to Paris, swelled the accumu- 
lating mass of discontent. Suspicions had long been enter- 
tained, of a design to restore the principles of the ancient 
monarchy ; and the exhumation and re-interment of the nearly 
consumed remains of Louis XVL, and his queen, together with 
the introduction, into the French liturgy, of a service to com- 
memorate the death of the royal martyr, served to encourage 
the apprehension. 

The discontents of his former subjects, were not unknown 
to Napoleon, in his place of exile. They awoke his slumber- 
ing ambition ; a communication was promptly opened, with 
his most devoted friends, amongst whom, marshal Soult, com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, was his most active partisan ; and 
the crouching lion prepared to rouse himself from his short 
repose. 

When the first impressions of novelty were effaced. Napo- 
leon's mind seems to have subsided into a state bordering upon 
ennui. He grew corpulent, took less exercise, and slept more. 
But the discussions in the congress at Vienna, regarding his 
future destiny, and the arrangement of the Italian states, par- 
ticularly of those which had been assigned, by the treaty of 
Fontainbleau, to the empress and his son, soon roused him 
from this state of torpor. Hitherto, he had evinced a decided 
predilection for the society of sir Neil Campbell, the British 
accredited agent at Elba : he seemed to have nothing to con- 
ceal, and courted the strictest scrutiny : — he thought of nothing, 
he declared to colonel Campbell, beyond the verge of his little 
isles : he could have supported the war for twenty years, if he 
had chosen : he was now a deceased person, occupied with 
nothing but his family, his retreat, his house, his poultry, and 
his cows. But, having received a visit from some of his ref- 
lations and friends, who had recently left Paris, and by whom 
the proceedings of the congress were reported, he became 
restless and dissatisfied. He shunned the company of the 



192 THE LIFE OF 

British officer, and almost excluded himself from society. 
Often, he would spend seven or eight hours in his closet, no 
one daring to intrude upon his retirement ; and, at other times, 
he would wander, i)n the shore, with folded arms, and fre- 
quently with an un'equal and agitated step. The embelhsh- 
ment of his capital, and the improvement of the island, were 
neglected, and almost forgotten ; the discontents of the Frenclh 
people, which had now come to his knowledge, had awakened 
his slumbering ambition, and the incipient conspiracy to effect 
his restoration, absorbed all his thoughts. 

The striking alteration in the conduct of Napoleon, and the 
frequent intercourse now opened by him, with his friends in 
Leghorn, Florence, and other parts of Italy, were not con- 
cealed from the principal governments of Europe ; and there is 
no doubt that sir Neil Campbell reported all that appeared to 
him deserving of notice, as well in the island of Elba, as on 
the neighbouring peninsula. It is impossible to conceive any 
situation, in Europe, less calculated for a place of security, or 
more favourable for conducting a conspiracy, than the island 
of Elba. That it was the place of Napoleon's selection, as he 
informed the inhabitants, on bis first arrival amongst them, may 
easily be imagined ; but that the allies should have acceded to 
such a choice, is not so easily discovered. Situated in the vi- 
cinity of France, Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, it afford- 
ed a centre of unrestricted communication, with the principal 
scenes of his former usurpations ; and, that nothing might be 
wanting, to give to Napoleon's genius for intrigue the most 
unbounded scope, a corvette was assigned him, to hold com- 
munication with the ports of the Mediterranean ; and no cruiser, 
of any nation, had a right to violate his flag. 

Under circumstances so auspicious to his designs, the rami- 
fications of the conspiracy soon became widely extended. On 
the banks of the Seine, as well as on the shores of the lake of 
Geneva, the violet was the secret symbol, by which the con- 
spirators denoted their chief, and- recognised each other. 
Kings of a violet colour, with the device, " Elle reparaitra an 
printeins'''' — (It will re-appear in the spring) — became fashion- 
able. The ladies were dressed in violet-coloured silks ; and 
the men displayed violet-coloured watch-ribbons. When they 
asked, " Aimez vous la violette?'"' — (Are you fond of the vio- 
let?) — if the answer was simply " Oui'" — (yes) — it was inferred 
that the respondent was not a confederate ; but, if he exclaimed 
*^ Eh Bien,'" — (Ah! Well!) — they recognised a brother, initi- 



NAPOLEON. 193 

ated in the secrets of the conspiracy ; and completed the sen- 
tence, by remarking, " Elle reparaitra au printems.''^ 

Napoleon determined to return to France, to drive the Bour- 
bon from his inglorious throne, and again to place upon his head 
the imperial crown. At nine o'clock, in the evening of Sun- 
day, the twenty-sixth of February, he sailed from Forto-Ferrajo, 
with a fleet of seven small vessels, accompanied by general 
Bertrand, and the other officers of his staff, and about eleven- 
hundred soldiers, chiefly of the old guard. Short, as was the 
voyage, it was attended with no inconsiderable risk. It was 
found expedient, on the night of his departure, to change the 
painting of the Inconstant — a brig of twenty-six guns, in which 
Napoleon sailed — to avoid the observation of those who might 
otherwise have recognised the vessel. The next day, two 
French frigates, and an armed brig, bore down upon them ; 
and it required the exercise of no small ingenuity, to conceal 
their destination. — " We are bound from Elba, to Genoa," 
said the lieutenant of the Inconstant, to the commander of the 
royal squadron ; " and shall be happy to execute any commis- 
sion for you, at that place." — This civility the captain declined, 
and, at parting, cried — " How's the emperor?" to which, Na- 
poleon himself replied, " Wonderfully well I" and the ships then 
pursued an opposite course. Fortune was with Napoleon ; 
and, on the first of March, at five o'clock, in the evening, the 
troops were disembarked, near Cannes, a small sea-port, in the 
gulf of St. Juan, not fir from Frejus. 

Placing himself at the head of his little army, about midnight. 
Napoleon advanced to Cannes; and, in the evening of the sec- 
ond, he arrived at Sernon, having already traversed a distance 
of twenty leagues. His appearance produced, in the inhabit- 
ants, a mingled sensation of astonishment, fear, and joy. His 
mnrch was rather a triumph, than an invasion. On the fourth, 
he dined at Digne, and on the fifth, he entered Gap ; at which 
place, he issued two proclamations, written, by him, on his 
voyage from Elba. 

One of these proclamations was addressed to the French 
people, the other to the army. 

"Soldiers!" says Napoleon, in the latter, "We were not 
conquered: — two men, raised from our ranks, betrayed our 
laurels, their country, their prince, their benefactor. 

"Those whom, during twenty-five years, we have seen tra- 
versing all Europe, to raise up enemies against us ; who have 
passed tiieir lives in fighting against us, in the ranks of foreign 
armies, cursing our fine France ; shall they pretend to control 

R 



194 THE LIFE OF 

our eagles, on which they have not dared ever to look ? Shall 
we endure, that they shall inherit the fruits of our glorious la- 
bours — that they shall clothe themselves with our honours and 
our goods — that they shall calumniate our glory ? If their reign 
would continue, all would be lost, even the memory of those 
immortal days. With what fury, do they pervert their very 
nature ! they seek to poison what the world admires ; and, if 
there still remain any defenders of our glory, it is amongst those 
very enemies whom we have fought in the field of battle. 

" Soldiers ! in my exile, I heard your voice : I have arrived 
through ail obstacles, and all perils ; your general, called to 
the throne by the/ choice of the people, and educated under 
your banners, is restored to you : — come and join him. 

" Tear down those colours, which the nation has proscribed, 
and vv'hich, for twenty-five years, served as a, rallying signal for 
all the enemies of France : mount the tri-coloured cockade : 
you bore it in the days of your greatness. 

" We must forget that we have been masters of nations ; but 
we must not suffer any to intermeddle with our affairs. 

" Who shall presume to be master over us ? Who would 
have the power? Hecover those eagles which you had at Ulm, 
at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Eylau, at Friedland, at Tudela, at 
Eckmuhl, at Esling, at Wagram, at Smolensko, at Moscow, 
at Lutzen, at Vurken, at Montmirail. Do you think that the 
handful of Frenchmen who are now so arrogant, will endure 
to look on them ? They shall return whence they came ; and 
there, if they please, they shall reign, as they pretend to have 
reigned during nineteen years. Your possessions, your rank, 
your glory — the possessions, the rank, the glory, of your chil- 
dren, have no greater enemies than those princes whom foreign- 
ers have imposed upon us : — they are the enemies of our glory, 
because the recital of so many heroic actions, which have glo- 
rified the people of France, fighting against them, to withdraw 
themselves from their yoke, is their condemnation. 

*' The veterans of the armies of the Sambre and the Meuse, 
of the Rhine, of Italy, of Egypt, of the West, of the grand army, 
are all humiliated : their honourable wounds are disgraced : — 
their successes were crimes ; those heroes were rebels, if, as 
the enemies of the people pretend, the legitimate sovereigns 
were in the midst of the foreign armies. 

" Honours, rewards, affection, are given to those who have 
served against their country, and us. 

" Soldiers I come and range yourselves under the standards 
of your chief: — ^his existence is composed only of yours ; his 



NAPOLEON. 195 

rights are those only of the people and yours : — his interest, 
his honour, his glory, are only your interest, your honour, and 
your glory. Victory shall march at the charge-step : the eagle, 
with the national colours, shall fly from steeple to steeple, even 
to the towers of Notre-Dame. Then, you will be able to show 
your scars, with honour ; then, you will be able to glory in what 
you have done ; you will be the deliverers of th^ country. In 
your old age, surrounded and esteemed by your fellow-citizens, 
they will hear, with respect, while you recount your high deeds : 
— you will be able to say, with pride, — ' And I, too, was part 
of that grand army, which entered twice the v/alls of Vienna, 
those of Rome, of Berlin, of Madrid, of Moscow ; and which 
delivered Paris from the foul blot, imprinted on it by treason 
and the presence of the enemy.' 

" Honoured be those brave soldiers, the glory of the coun- 
try ; and eternal shame to those guilty Frenchmen, in what- 
ever rank fortune caused them to be born, who fought, for 
twenty-five years, with the foreigner, to tear the bosom of the 
country." 

Five days after his debarkation, he met the advanced guard 
of the garrison of Grenoble, at Mure, coming to arrest his 
progress. Undismayed, by the threatened resistance of a force 
amounting to eight-hundred men. Napoleon proceeded, to meet 
them, followed by about fifty grenadiers, w^ith their arms re- 
versed. Advancing to the right of the battalion, he threw open 
his outer coat, and, presenting his breast, exclaimed : — " Sol- 
diers, you have been told that I fear death ; — if there be amongst 
you one man who w^ould kill his emperor, let him plunge his 
bayonet into my bosom." — The effect was instantaneous ; the 
arms of the soldiers were hurled to the ground, the guard and 
the soldiers embraced each other, and the air resounded with 
the cries of " Vive VEmpereur!'''' 

The next day, the garrison of Grenoble, consisting of six- 
thousand men, with Napoleon at their head, marched towards 
Lyons, having hoisted their tri-coloured cockades, which were 
found sewed in the bottom of their knapsacks ; and which they 
presented to the emperor, exclaiming, " They are the same 
that we wore at AusterUtz and Marengo." 

Marshal Soult, whose attachment to his old master, began 
now to be suspected, resigned his oflice, on the eleventh ; and 
Ney, who had been despatched against Napoleon, about the 
same time, went over to the imperial standard, with twelve- 
thousand men. The decisive moment was now approaching. 
On the part of the Bourbons, the rencontre was expected, on 



196 THE LIFE OF 

the declining plains of Melun ; where, on the twentieth of 
March, (the-birth day of Napoleon's son,) the national guard, 
of one-hundred-thousand men, under the Duke of Berri, with 
marshal Macdonald as his lieutenant, was drawn up, in three 
lines. All was anxious expectation. On the side of Fontain- 
bleau, no sound, as of an army rushing to battle, was heard. 
At length, a hght tramp of horses met the ear. An open car- 
riage, attended by a few hussars, was seen, on the skirts of the 
forest. It drove down the hill, with the rapidity of hghtning, 
and reached the advanced posts, before the surprise, occasion- 
ed, by its appearance, had subsided — " Vive VEmpereur,^^ 
burst from the astonished soldiery. — ''Napoleon — Napoleon, le 
grandl''^ spread from rank to rank; while, bare-headed — Ber- 
trand seated on his right, and Drouet on his left — Napoleon 
continued his course ; and, passing through the ranks of the 
royal army, reached Paris, at eight o'clock in the evenings 
without a shot having been fired, on either side, and, after an 
exile of about ten months, reasccnded the imperial throne. 

The following day, the small army of Elba arrived, having, 
in twenty days, performed a march of two-hundred-and-forty 
leagues. 

" The journey of Napoleon," it has been well observed, 
" from Cannes to Paris, is without a parallel in history, and 
much beyond the limits of probable fiction. Every soldier sent 
against him, joined his force. Where resistance seemed, for a 
moment, to be threatened, it was disarmed by the sound of his 
voice. The ascendence of a victorious leader over soldiers; 
the talent of moving armed multitudes by a word; the inex- 
tinguishable attachment of an army, to him in whom glory is 
concentrated and embodied ; were never before so brilliantly 
and tremendously exemplified. Civilized society v/as never 
before so terribly warned of the force of those military virtues 
which -are the greatest of civil vices. In twenty day;? he found 
himself quietly seated on the throne of France, without having 
spilled a drop of blood. The change had no resemblance to 
a European revolution, in a European country, where great 
bodies of men are interested in the preservation of authority, 
and v/here every one takes some interest for or against politi- 
cal mutation. It had nothing of the violence of popular revolt. 
It was a bloodless and orderly military sedition. In the levity 
with v/hich authority was transferred, it bore some resemblance 
to an oriental revolution ; but the total absence of those great 
characteristic features, the murder or imprisonment of princes, 
destroy the likeness. It is, in short, an event of which the 



r NAPOLEON. 19'7 

I scene could have been laid, by a romance writer bold enough 
to have imagined it, in no other time and country than France, 
in the year 1815."* 

Happily for Louis, he had not waited the near approach' of 
the unwelcome intruder. At ten o'clock, in the morning^ of 
the night in which Napoleon entered Paris, the Bourbon king^, 
with about two-hundred of his household troops — the only por- 
tion of his army which had adhered to the royal cause — had 
left Paris, on his way to Ghent ; to which place, the duke of 
Ragusa and duke of Belluno had repaired. Marshal Berthier, 
also, had followed the fortunes of the Bourbons ; but the con- 
flict of feeling, arising out of his attachment to his former mas- 
ter,' and his sense of loyalty towards his present sovereign, had 
subdued his once vigorous mind ; and, on the first of June, he 
threw himself from a window, in the palace of Bamberg, and 
was killed, by the fall. 

It was not to be expected, that those powers who had united 
in the dethronement of Napoleon, would acquiesce in his re- 
sumption of the imperial crown. Austria, Russia, Prussia, and 
Great Britain, determined, each, to keep in the field, one-hun- 
dred-and-fifty-thousand men, until he should be again expelled ; 
while the troops to be furnished by Bavaria, Baden, Saxony, 
Hanover, the Hanse Towns, and the smaller states of the Rhine, 
amounted to two-hundred-thousand more. 

Aware of the approaching storm. Napoleon sought to di- 
minish its violence, by pacific overtures ; and, one of his first 
acts, on reascending the throne of France, was to address a 
letter, in his own hand-writing, to each of the sovereigns of 
Europe, announcing his restoration, and expressing his sincere 
desire to maintain the repose of the world. But the couriers, 
charged with his declaration, were not allowed to proceed to 
many of the courts, and returned to France, with their deS' 
patches unopened. 

The letter of Napoleon was speedily followed by a justifica- 
tory manifesto ; in which, were enumerated the several articles 
of the treaty of Fontainbleau, which had been violated, by the 
allied sovereigns. This exposition contained many truths ; 
and must, in a great measure, if not entirely, justify the empe- 
ror's return from Elba. The empress and his son, were to 
have obtained passports, to repair to the emperor; but, instead 
of a compliance with this stipulation, the wife had been forcibly 
separated from her husband, and the child from its father : she 

* Edinburcrh Review, 
R 2 



! 198 THE LIFE OP 

bad been deprived of her three dutchies: the private property 
of Napoleon and his family, had been sequestrated : the pay- 
ment of their stipulated pensions, had been withheld, from 
which cause, Napoleon was suffering extreme pecuniary dis- 
tress ; and there was much reason to suppose, that it was con- 
templated to remove him from Elba, to a more distant isle. 
.The attempts made, in different parts of France, by the 
Bourbon princes, to excite the people against Napoleon, had 
all been unsuccessful. On the twenty-seventh of April, in little 
more than one month after the arrival of the emperor, at Paris, 
the news of the whole French territory being restored to tran- 
quillity, was announced, by a salute of artillery, fired, at one 
o*clock, from the batteries, in every part of the empire. 

Already, had the French army marched to the frontier. The 
combined armies, also, were in motion. A million of warriors 
were advancing, from the north, to prostrate, by their united 
efforts, the barrier of France, spread over a frontier of one- 
thousand miles. Murat, the only prince who tendered his ser- 
vice to the emperor, had been expelled from Naples ; and Na- 
poleon had to contend, single-handed, against all the sovereigns 
of Europe. 

The decisive blow was to be struck in Belgium. Quitting 
Paris, early in the morning of the twelfth of June, attended by 
marshals Soult and Ney, his lieutenant-gienerals, on the four- 
teenth hie presented himself, at the head of a formidable army, 
on the battle-field. The French troops were in the highest 
order. The marches and combinations of the various corps, 
.were marked, in a distinguished manner, by that unrivalled 
military talent, which planned Napoleon's most fortunate cam- 
paigns. In the same day, and almost at the same hour, the 
three grand cdvisions of his army, attained, by a simultaneous 
movement, a united allignment, upon the frontiers of Belgium. 

On the night of the fifteenth, the news arrived, at Brussels, 
that hostilities had commenced. The duke of Wellington, in 
some degree, taken by surprise, was sitting, ailer dinner, with 
a party of officers, when he received the despatches from mar- 
shal Blucber. On the same night, the duchess of Richmond 
gave a ball, at Brussels, at which, the duke of Brunswick, and 
many of the British officers, were present; and the duke of 
Wellington, considering the first intimation as merely relating 
to an affair of posts, after giving orders, that the troops should 
hold themselves in readiness, had joined the dance. At mid- 
night, a second messenger arrived, with intelligence that 
Qharleroi was taken, that the French had advanced to Fleurus, 



f- NAPOLEON. 199 

jand that there was every prospect of a general engagement, 
on the following day. In the midst of the festivities, the bugle 
sounded, and the drums beat to arms. The officers hastened 
to place themselves at the head of their troops ; and many of 
them received their death- wounds, on the approaching day, in 
their ball-room dresses. In less than an hour, the troops be- 
'gan to assemble, in the park ; and, at sunrise, the march began. 
>. Pursuing his usual mode of tactics, the French emperor de- 
termined to' assail the British and Prussian armies, while the 
Austrians and Russians were yet too distant to afford them 
succour. , On the fifleenth, he drove in the Prussian posts, 
upon the Sambre ; and the next day, defeated their commander- 
in-chief, marshal Blucber, on the heights of Ligny, between 
Brie and Sombref ; where the Prussians lost, in killed and 
wounded, fifteen-thousand men. Lord Wellington had directed 
his whole force to advance upon Quatre Bras ; where the first 
division of Picton had arrived, followed by a corps, under the 
command of the duke of Brunswick, and by the troops of Nas- 
sau. It was the duke of Wellington's desire, to afford assist- 
ance to marshal Blucher; but he was, himself, attacked, at 
Quatre Bras, by marshal Ney, before his own cavalry had 
arrived. A warm action ensued. But the repeated charges 
of the French, were steadily repulsed ; yet not without con- 
siderable loss, including the duke of Brunswick ; who, with his 
corps of cavalry, in mourning, had sought to revenge his father's 
death. 

Blucher retreated, during the night, to Wavre, and lord Wel- 
lington made a corresponding movement, towards the village 
of Waterloo; his left communicating, slightly, with marshal 
Blucher. Napoleon seemed to have accomplished his design, 
of separating the British and Prussian armies. 'J'he French 
troops glowed with the most sanguine expectations ; no one 
suffered himself to believe, that the English would halt, until 
they reached their vessels ; and Napoleon himself, having des- 
patched marshal Grouchy, to follow the Prussians, calculated 
confidently upon holding one of his grand Sunday reviews, in 
the Place Royale, at Brussels. 

The night of the seventeenth was dreadful : the rain fell in 
torrents ; the soldiers, in their open bivouacs, were almost up 
to their knees, in mud ; and numbers, particularly the officers 
who had come from Brussels, in their ball-room dresses, worn 
out by fatigue, stretched themselves, on this cheerless bed, to 
rise no more. — It was generally apprehended, in the French 
army, that the English would disappear, in the night ; and, when 



200 THE LIFE OP 

the gloomy dawn of the morniog of the eighteenth, exhibited 
them still in possession of the opposing heights, Napoleon could 
not suppress his satisfaction ; but exclaimed, while he extended 
his arm towards their position, "Ah I je lea tiens, done, ces 
Anglais !^^ — " Ah, these English, I have them, at last I" 

The adverse armies were now preparing for battle. For the 
first time, the two generab, the most renowned of their age and 
respective nations, were opposed to each other; and they were 
most powerfully excited, to .call into exercise all the genius of 
their inexhaustible minds. Since the battle of Pharsalia, no 
engagement was pregnant with consequences so momentous, 
as the battle of Waterloo. jjThe ground occupied by the two 
armies, was the sniallest, in extent of front, compared with the 
numbers engaged, of any field of battle in the recollection of 
military men. The English line did not exceed a mile and a 
half, in length ; the French, not more than two miles. The 
ground in front of the British army, formed a gentle declivity, 
inclining into a valley, nearly half a mile in breadth ; which lay 
between the two armies, and, at that time, bore a tall and luxu- 
riant crop of grain. The French position extended along an 
eminence, parallel to the British lines, at a distance cf about 
twelve-hundred yards ; and the opposing hills were each lined 
with three-hundred pieces of artillery. At nine o'clock, the 
rain had, in. some degree, abated ; and the first corps of the 
French army was placed opposite the centre of the British po- 
sition, "with the left on the road to Brussels. 

The force of the two armies, has been variously stated ; but, 
we are not far from the truth, when we rate them at about 
eighty-thousand men, each ; Napoleon's consisting of the flower 
of the French soldiers ; lord Wellington's, of thirty-eight thou- 
sand British, — the remainder being chiefly Belgian and Hano- 
verian troops. Jerome Buonaparte commanded on the left; 
counts Reille and d'Erlon, the centre ; count Lobau, on the 
right. 

The emperor rode along the ranks. This was the fiftieth 
Engagement in which he had commanded. It would be diffi- 
cult to express the enthusiasm which animated his soldiers. 
The victory appeared certain. The infantry raised their caps 
on the points of their bayonets ; the cavalry, their caps and 
helmets on the points of their swords ; while shouts of " Live 
the Emperor," ascended to the skies. 

A little before noon, the battle commenced, by the almost 
simultaneous advance of three entire French corps, on the 
right, centre, and left, of the British lines. The attack on tho 



t 



NAPOLEON. 201 



fr /ight, was made by a division under the command of Jerome 
■Buonaparte; and so great was its fury and impetuosity, that 
' the Belgian troops abandoned their posts, at Hougoumont, in 
i dismay. Here, as in the other parts of the field, the British 
^ force was drawn up in squares ; each regiment forming a sepa- 
f rate square, by itself, not quite solid, but nearly so; the men 
' standing several files deep. The distance between the masses, 
;- afforded space to draw up the battalion in line, when ordered 
y to deploy ; and the regiments were posted, with reference to 
, each other, like the alternate squares upon a chess-board. It 
l-«ras, of course, impossible for a squadron of cavalry to penetrate 
^ between two of these squares, without exposing it to the dan- 
'■■■ ger of being assailed, at once, by a fire in front, from that 
• square which-was in the rear ; and on both flanks, from those 
' between which it had moved forward. The attack upon Hou- 
goumont, was accompanied by a heavy fire, from more thaa 
two-hundred pieces of cannon, upon the whole British line. 
In vain, the French artillery mowed down whole ranks of their 
enemies. The chasms were instantly filled, and not a foot 
of ground was lost. — "What brave troops!" exclaimed Na- 
poleon, to his staff: "it is a pity to destroy them; but I 
shall beat them, after all." — Nothing could be more tremen- 
dous, than the mode of attack ; it was headed by artillery, 
which discharged showers of iron grape-shot, each larger than 
a walnut. It was a battle, on the part of the French, of cav- 
alry and cannon ; and, at the head of their columns, were the 
iron-cased cuirassiers, in complete mail ; upon which, the 
musket-balls were heard to ring, as they glanced from the 
polished surface, without injuring the wearer. At this period 
of the battle, two gallant generals of the British army, Picton 
and Ponsonby, were killed, while leading on their divisions to 
the charge. — " These English fight admirably ;" said Napoleon, 
to Soult; "but they must give way." — "No, sire," was the 
reply; "they prefer being cut to pieces." He was particu- 
larly struck with the Scotch Greys; and he often repeated, 
^^Regardez ces chevaux gris!^^ — Observe those grey horses! 
In another part of the field, the Hanoverian hussars of Cum- 
berland, as they were called, a corps distinguished for their 
high plumes, and the other embellishments of continental 
foppery, were ordered to avail themselves of an opportunity 
that presented, to charge the French cavalry ; but, instead 
of making the proposed advance, they retreated, and took 
up a position behind the hamlet of St. Jean. The colonel of 
this regiment, when ordered to advance, urged the enemy*s 



202 THE LIFE OF * 

strength — their cuirasses — -and, the consideration, which h^d,fl 
unaccountably, escaped the commander-in-chief, that his regi- ' 
ment "were all gentlemen." This diverting apology, was ■ 
carried back to the duke of Wellington ; who despatched the '^ 
messenger, again, to say, that, if the gentlemen would t^^ke post I • 
upon an eminence, which he pointed out, in the reir, thejt^i, 
would have an excellent view of the battle ; and he .would ieaY6,| 
the choice of a proper time, entirely to their own sagacity and'j| 
discretion, in which he had the fullest confidence !— The coloneJj J 
not perceiving the sarcasm conveyed by the messenger, actually «j 
thanked the aid-de-camp, for this distinguished post of honour^ 
and, followed by his gallant train, was out of danger, in a mo-*^i 
ment. . ./"'i 

It was now five o'clock, and still the Prussians, so long ex- 
pected, by lord Wellington, had not yet. arrived. Marshal 
Grouchy was, with no less impatience, expected .by Napoleon. | 
The British reserves were all in action ; their loss was already " 
severe, in the extreme. The success of the French seemed,- 
Xo their commander, no longer doubtful ; and he despatched a 
courier, to Paris, to announce that he had gained the day. At 
this^ juncture, an aid-de-camp came to lord WelHngton, with 
the information, that the fifth division was almost destroyed ; I 
and' that it was impossible that they could longer maintain i 
their ground, against so continued a series of murderous at- 
tacks. " I cannot help it," said the duke ; *' they must keep 
th^ir ground. They and I, and every Englishman in ihe field, \ 
must die, on the spot, rather than give way. Would to God, 
that night or Blucher were come!" 

The frequency and impetuosity of Napoleon's attacks, were 
now redoubled. At seven o'clock, in the evening, an officer, 
at length, appeared, with intelligence, that the Prussians were 
advancing, in the rear of his right wing. But Napoleon ap- 
peared incredulous : he affirmed, that it was the corps of 
Grouchy, and that the success of the day was now certain and 
complete. It was not marshal Grouchy, however, that was 
approaching : — that officer never reached the field of Waterloo: 
— it was general Bulow, with the advanced guard of fifty-thou- 
sand Prussians. Napoleon had still, in reserve, four regiments 
of the middle guard ; who, remaining on the heights of La^ Belle 
Alliance, or covered by the hill, had not yet come into battle. 
They were ordered to make a charge, and were led by the 
dauntless Ney. But, the emperor, in failing to take the per- 
sonal command of these guards, disappointed both his friends 
and his enemies. A body of Brunswickers, at first attempted 



if. NAPOLEON. 203 

Mo oppose them ; but, after an ineffectual resistance, they were 
^.defeated, with immense slaughter. The French troops had 
^now penetrated within the British lines; and it seemed impos- 
^ gible for ;:he duke to rally a sufficient force, to arrest their pro- 
^ grass. They bore down every thing before them ; and, once 
f more, in this eventful conflict, victory inclined to the side of 
I Napoleon. ** But the English," it seems, " did not know that 
5 theynvere beaten.*' Immediately in the rear, was the duke of 
' WelUngton, riding backwards and forwards, and using every 
-^expedient, to avert the fury of the storm ; and, on the brow of 
; the hill, immediately in front of the French advancing column, 
^ a regiment of English guards had been ordered to lie down, to 
• shelter themselves from their enemy's fire. The imperial 
' guards still advanced, and had approached within a hundred 
yards, when the duke suddenly exclaimed, " Up, guards, and 
It them." , In an instant, the guards sprung upon their feet, 
and assumed the offensive. The unexpected appearance of 
this fine body of men, startled the French battalions ; but, 
immediately recovering themselves, they advanced still more 
rapidly, and were in the act of dashing upon their opponents, 
with the bayonet, when a volley was poured upon them, by the 
British, which literally threw the assailants back, with the 
shock. A second volley heightened their confusion ; and, be- 
ing charged, in their turn, by the British guards, they were put 
to flight. — The main body of the Prussians, had now arrived. 
The countenance of the duke of Wellington brightened into a 
smile : his watch, so long held in his hand, to mark the pro- 
gress of time, while he wished for the arrival of night or the 
Prussians, was restored to his pocket ; and he exultingly ex- 
claimed, '* There, goes old Blucher, at last; we shall beat 
them yet." 

The critical moment had now arrived. The duke ordered 
the whole line to move forward. The centre of the advancing 
army, led on by the duke of Wellington, in person, proceeded 
to the decisive charge, while the flank regiments were formed 
into hollow squares. Nothing could resist the impetuosity of 
the attack. The French fought with desperation ; but their 
first line, was speedily broken ; the second afforded little more 
resistance ; and complete confusion and rout ensued* Cries 
of « All is lost," issued from every part of the French aniiy ; 
and they, were thus forced from their position, upon the heights. 
While these events were passing, in the centre, the Prussian 
columns continued to advance. General Zeithen charged upon 
the right flank of the French army. Their wing was broken, 



204 THE LIFE OF ' -J; 

in three places : they abandoned their position, and the Prus-*^^^! 
sian troops, rushing forward, at the pas de charge, completed 
their overthrow. The wiiole Frencli army, was now nothing 
but a mass of confusion : all the soldiers, of every descriptiony-ii 
were mixed, pell-mell, and it was impossible to rally a single^! 
corps.. -Perceiving that all was lost, Napoleon exclaimed, to*J' 
Bertrand, " We must save ourselves — we must decamp — wef>i 
must decamp," — and the emperor aiid his suite galloped off| 
the field. *^ ' ' . . § 

The pursuit of the retreating army, was assigned to the>s 
Prussians. The tremendous scenes of the day, were surpassed fr^ 
by the horrors of the night. The last stand, made by the'i 
wreck of the French army, was at Gemappe. The progress" • 
of the Prussian troops, was, for a moment, arrested, by a fire^'- 
of musketry : some cannon-shot, however, and a loud hurrah," 
served to renew the panic ; and the same men, whose bravery, - 
a few hours before, excited the warmest admiration of their 
enemies, were now incapable of the least resistance. 

On the night of the eighteenth. Napoleon, surrounded by a 
few officers of his staff, halted about three leagues from Char- 
leroi. In the bivouac, at this place, upon a grass-plat, a fire 
was kindled, and refreshments prepared, of which he partook; 
being the first food he had tasted for fourteen hours. 

The loss sustained, by the conflicting armies, was immense. 
In no action, of the previous war, had so many British officers 
been slain. One-hundred officers were killed,' and five-hun-- 
dred wounded : the total loss of the British and Hanoverians, 
by death, or wounds, in the battle of Waterloo, was not less 
than twelve-thousand ; and, of the whole French army,notmore 
than about forty-thousand lefl the field. 

At Gemappe, amongst other equipages, the carriage of Na^ 
poleon, containing his papers, but not his person, was captur- 
ed; his hat, sword, and casket of treasure, well stored with 
Napoleons, enhancing the value of the prize. His travelling 
library, also, consisting of nearly eight-hundred volumes, in six 
chests, was taken ; and amongst the books were found French 
translations of Homer and Ossian, the Bible, and the Pucelle 
of Voltaire. The imperial carriage was afterwards carried to 
England, and exhibited, for many months, at the London Mu- 
seum. In this favourite vehicle. Napoleon travelled to Mos- 
cow, and afterwards to Dresden. After the campaign of Paris, 
it bore him to the shores of tiie Mediterranean, and was shipped 
with him for Elba. On his return from that island, he made 
in this, his moving palace, his triumphal journey to Paris, and 



NAPOLEON. 205 

_ it he was conveyed to the field of Waterloo. But he had 
never entered it after the battle. It would be impossible to 
imacrine a more perfect specimen of elegance and convenience : 
ic^j_-.though only of the ordinary size, it is a complete bed-room, 
l^ressing-room, dining-room, kitchen, and ofRces. Packed in 
llhe most compact manner, are whole services of china, with 
^knives, forks, spoons, and decanters, with a dressing-case, con- 
?taining every article for the toilette. A complete wardrobe, 
i' bedstead, bed, and mattresses, afforded their respective accom- 
t modations ; and all so arranged, as to present themselves with- 
£ out incommoding the traveller. 

|, - Without endeavouring to rally his broken forces. Napoleon .. 
g hastened back to Paris; where he arrived on the evening of' 
pthe twentieth of June; and, assembling his council, requested 
I to be made dictator. This desire, however, being resisted, by 
t Carnot, La Fayette, and other leading members of the legisla- 
*. ture ; and Napoleon, perceiving that further exertions to main- 
. tain his throne, would eventuate in a civil war ; issued a decla- 
- ration, in which, "offering himself a sacrifice to the hatred of 
the enemies of France," he proclaimed his son. Emperor, 
by the title of Napoleon IL But the nomination of his son, 
seemed less acceptable to the legislature, than his own abdica- 
tion; and commissioners repaired to the allied armies, with 
. proposals of peace. The victors, however, would treat only 
' under the walls of Paris. They reached the capital, on the 
'. twenty-ninth of June ; and, after considerable opposition, by 
the forces stationed on the adjacent heights, on the third 
. of July, the city -surrendered, by capitulation ; and, on the 
sixth, it was entered, by the invading troops. Thus, was the 
• -French capital, a second time, in possession of the allies; and 
. thus, ended Napoleon's second reign, of one-hundred days. 
The white standard of the Bourbons now displaced the tri- 
coloured flag on the towers of Paris; and the intention of 
Louis XVIIL to re-enter his capital on the eighth, was ofliicially 
announced. The Parisians, to whom a public spectacle has - 
irresistible charms, hastened to behold, and to swell, the royal 
procession. When the king reached the barriers, which were 
thrown open for his admission, the acclamations of the popu- 
lace became unbounded; and the prefect of Paris, attended by 
the whole municipal body, addressed a congratulatory speech 
to his majesty, full of those protestations of inextinguishable 
loyalty, to liis person and his house, which, only about three 
months before, had been lavished, with equal profusion, upon 
the returning emperor. 

S 



206 THE LIFE OF 

The day after his arrival, the king announced his new minis- 
try. It consisted of prince Talleyrand, president of the coun- 
cil, and secretary of state for foreign affairs; baron Louis, i 
minister of finance; the duke of Otranto, minister of pblice; ,, 
baron Pasquier, minister of justice; marshal St. Cyr, minister j 
of war f count Jaucour, minister of marine;, and the-' duke' of -j 
Richelieu, minister of the household. , In the choice of this ] 
ministry, the object of the king was'to include men of all par- ij 
ties, and thereby inspire universal confidence; but this was a i 
vain effort, and a short time served to dissolve a body, in which 
there was no common principle of adhesion. . v_ 

Louis was thus once more seated on the throne, but he reigri^ 
ed only in the Tuileries. To the foreign troops, by which he 
was surrounded, he was solely indebted for his elevation. The j 
national will had not been consulted ; and the same power, I 
only, which placed the sceptre in his hands, could enable him | 
to wield it. Indebted to the enemies of his country for his I 
elevation — surrounded by a discordant ministry — compelled to 
impose^ heavy burthens upon the people, as the price of bis j 
restoration — and forced to subscribe to conditions humiliating | 
to the glory of France; the opening of his second reign, was i 
inauspicious in the extreme, but it was not entirely hopeless. | 
Whatever might have been the errors of his former govern- I 
ment, or however unpromising his present circumstances, he ; 
enjoyed personally the respect of the French nation. The ' 
people were wearied with revolutions. Their military passion, ! 
which, before the return of Napoleon, constituted the great dan- 
ger of the French monarchy, was subdued; and the nation 
wished for peace, and a moderate share of freedom, both of 
which the king possessed the power and the inclination to ; 
confer. 

The short but splendid campaign of the alhed armies under 
the command of the duke of Wellington and marshal Blucher, 
obscured the operations of the Austrians and the Russians, and 
their advance from the Rhine to the French capital, though 
distinguished by several spirited engagements, did not fix, for 
a moment, the attention of Europe. Two days after the return 
of Louis, the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia, ar- 
rived in Paris; and lord Castlereagh, with several others of 
the most distinguished statesmen and ministers attached to the 
principal courts of Europe, had repaired to the same city, to 
negotiate those treaties by which the relations of France with 
the other states of Europe, were to be regulated and guaran- 
teed ; and the humiliated kingdom was to be occupied, during 



NAPOLEON. 207 

five years, by one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand troops, furnished 
by the great allied powers, and maintained at the expense of 
France. 

Napoleon was, in the mean time, occupied with the care of 
his own safety ; endeavouring to reach a seaport, and embark 
for the United States. On the third of July, accompanied by 
counts Montholon and Bertrand, together with the duke of 
Rovigo, generals L'Allemand, Gourgaud, and the count de Las 
Cases, he arrived atRochefort. The port, however, being closely 
watched, by English cruisers, after some unsuccessful attempts 
to elude their vigilance, he placed himself under British pro- 
tection : — to use his own words, " he came, like Themistocles, 
to throw himself upon the honour of the British nation \ the 
most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous, of 
his enemies." On the fifteenth, he went, with his suite and 
baggage, on board the Bellerophon, a ship of war, commanded 
by captain Maitland. He professed his desire to pass the re- 
mainder of his days in England. But this proposal was not 
acceded to, by the allied powers. They determined, that he 
should be carried, as a state prisoner, to St. Helena ; a British 
bland, in the Southern Atlantic ; there, to remain> under the 
strictest guard, within specified limits, for recreation. The 
Bellerophon, having sailed for Torbay, the illustrious captive 
was there transferred to the British ship of war, Northumber- 
land, of seventy-four guns, commanded by captain Ross, and 
bearing the flag of rear-admiral sir George Cockburn. Count 
Bertrand, his wife, and three children ; the count and cduntess 
Montholon, and child ; count de Las Cases and general Gour- 
gaud; with nine men and three women servants; remained 
with Napoleon ; and, on the seventeenth of October, after a 
passage of seventy-two days, he who had once aspired to the 
dominion of Europe, found himself immured in a small volcanic 
island, at a distance of six-thousand miles from the scenes of 
his immortal exploits ; and separated from the continents of 
Africa and America, by unfathomable seas. 

Misfortune had not impaired the personal appearance of Na- 
poleon. When chief consul of France, his figure was slender, 
his visage thin, and rather haggard ; when he assumed the im- 
perial purple, he was more robust ; but, since adversity first 
hurled him from his giddy eminence, he had become actually 
corpulent. His person is thus described by an officer of the 
Bellerophon : — " Napoleon is about five feet seven inches in 
height, very strongly made, and well-proportioned ; his chest 
is very broad and deep ; his legs and thighs are proportioned. 



208 THE LIFE OF 

with symmetry and strength ; he has a round and handsome 
foot. His countenance is sallow, and, as it were, deeply tinged 
by hot climates ; but he has the most commanding air I ever 
saw. His hair is dark brown, his eyes are grey, and the most 
piercing that you can imagine. His glance, you fancy, searches 
into your inmost thoughts. His features are handsome now, 
and when younger, he must have been a very handsome man. 
He is rather fat, and his body protuberant, but, notwithstand- 
ing, he appears active. His step and demeanour, are gllto- 
gether commanding : he looks about forty-five' or forty-six 
years of age." 

St. Helena, so far from being desolate and barren, as is 
generally imagined, is, in many parts, pre-eminently fertile, 
and capable of the highest improvement. The land, of which 
between two and three thousand acres might be ploughed, and 
even much more brought into cultivation, is not inferior, in the 
production of wheat, and every other grain, as well as of po- 
tatoes, and all other kinds of esculents, to the very best land of 
Europe. The annual produce is indeed much greater,, on ae<^ 
count of the certainty of two seasons of rain, and two harvests^ 
in the year. The plain of Longwood and Deadwood comprises 
fifteen-hundred acres, elevated two-thousand feet above the sea, 
with a beautiful verdure, covering a deep and fertile soil, and 
is become the first place of pasture in the island ; but, with all 
these advantages, the greater part of St. Helena exhibits the 
appearance of a barren and reluctant waste. The climate is 
represented as the mildest and most salubrious in the world, 
and as remarkably congenial to human feehngs. Neither too 
hot nor too cold, it presents, throughout the year, that medium 
temperature which is always agreeable. From thunder and 
lightning this chmate may be said to be wholly exempt. In the 
course of sixty years, only two flashes of lightning are recollect- 
ed ; and even these are said not to have been accompanied by 
thunder. Neither is this settlement subject to those storms and 
hurricanes, which occasionally afflict and desolate many other 
ir€)pical islands. The population of the island, in 1812, was 
five-hundred-and-eighty-two white persons, and one-thousand- 
one-hundred-and-fifty black. Provisions are always plentiful ; 
and the supply of fish is so ample, that more than seventy spe- 
cies are enumerated, as frequenting the coast. 

As a military station, this settlement is impregnable. The 
principal landing-places, which consist of Rupert's Bay, James- 
'I'cwn, and Lemon Valley, are all well fortified with batteries, 
provided with furnaces for heating shot, and flanked by cannon^ 



NAPOLEON. 209 

placed upon the cliffs, far above the reach of ship-guns. Mor- 
tars and howitzers also are provided, for showering grape-sliot 
upon the decks of ships, or upon boats attempting to land. 
Two or three men, provided with iron crows, and stationed on 
the heights, just above the entrance to any of the ravines, 
would render it impossible for any number of troops, however 
great, to advance ten yards within the landing-places. A 
stone of moderate size, which may be easily displaced, thrown 
down from one of the ridges, collects so many myriads in its 
train, before it reaches the bottom of the hill, that, if a whole 
battalion of troops were drawn up in the ravine, not a single 
man could escape alive. 



CHAPTER XIV 

DEFEAT AND EXECUTION OF MURAT. 

The affairs of Europe were now rapidly tending towards the 
system of political restoration. Napoleon, the founder of the 
new dynasties, had fallen, and none of the monarchs indebted 
for their elevation to that most extraordinary man, the king of 
Sweden alone excepted, had retained their crowns. In Hol- 
land, Spain, and Germany, tlie Napoleon race had, in succes- 
sion, disappeared from the list of sovereign princes; and in 
Italy, the sceptre of Joachim Murat was, within the period of 
the second reign of his imperial relation, wrested from his 
grasp. During the exile of Napoleon, in the isle of Elba, there 
had been an active correspondence between Porto-Eerrajo and 
the king of Naples. At this time, two contending parties ex- 
isted in the latter court — the French and the Neapolitans. 
The attachment of the king was manifestly to the former ; and, 
on the return of Napoleon to the French capital, little difficulty 
was found, by this party, in fixing the sovereign in alliance with 
the prince to whom he owed his crown ; and to whose friend- 
ship alone he began to suspect that he must be indebted for its 
preservation. The policy of Murat was to preserve his king- 
dom ; and the same motives which induced him to join the 
allies, in 1814, now led him to espouse the cause of the French 
emperor. No sooner had the intelligence of the triumphal 
entry of Napoleon into Lyons, arrived at Naples, than Joachim 
quitted his capital, to place himself at the head of his army. 
On the nineteenth of March, he arrived at Ancona, with fifty- 

S2 



210 THE LIFE OF 

thousand men ; and, forcing a passage through the papal do- 
ininions, without explaining his intentions, he occupied Rome, 
the pope and the cardinals flying before him : — and thence, 
proceeding to the north, on the thirtieth of the same month, he 
commenced hostihties with Austria, by attacking an imperial 
army posted at Casena. 

The grand object of Murat was to unite Lombardy and the 
other states of Italy, against the house of Austria ; and one of 
his first acts, on the breaking out of the war, was to issue a 
proclamation, dated from Rimini, on the thirty-first of March, 
invoking the Italians to repair to his standard, and to drive from 
amongst them all foreign power.—" One cry," says this proc- 
lamation, " echoes from the Alps to the straits of Scylla — ' The 
independence of Italy !' — What right have strangers to rob you 
of independence, the first right and blessing of all people ? It 
is in vain, that nature has given you the Alps for a bulwark, 
and the invincible discrepancy of your character, as a barrier 
still more insurmountable. No ! let every foreign domination 
disappear from the soil of Italy. Formerly masters of the 
world, you have expiated that fatal glory, by a servitude of two- 
thousand years. Let it now be your glory to have masters no 
longer. Eighty-thousand Italians, at Naples, hasten to you, 
under the command of the king : they swear never to rest, till 
Italy be free ; and they have proved, more than once, that they 
know how to keep their oaths. Arise, Italians, and march in 
the closest union ; and, at the same time that your courage 
shall assert your internal independence, let a government of 
your choice, a truly national representation, a constitution 
worthy of you and of the age, guarantee your internal liberty, 
and protect your property. I invite all brave men to join my 
standard ; I invite all enlightened men, who have reflected on 
the wants of their country, to prepare, in the silence of the 
passions, the constitution and laws, which must, in future, gov- 
ern happy and independent Italy." 

At first, Murat seemed rapidly advancing to the completion 
of his object. The imperial general, Bianchi, retired before 
the Neapolitan army, the grand-duke of Tuscany quitted his 
capital, and on the sixth of April the invading army entered 
Florence. But, notwithstanding this success, the Italians did 
not repair to the standard of independence, in any considerable 
numbers; or'display any portion of that zeal, which was indis- 
pensable, in order to resist, with success, the imperial arms. 

in the mean time, the Austrian forces were collected under 
marshal Beiiegarde; who, in a proclamation, dated the fifth 



NAPOLEON. 211 

of April, reminded the people of Italy, that Murat, the de- 
nouncer of foreign influence, was himself a foreigner! Murat's 
character as a tactician was far inferior to that which he de- 
servedly bore as a soldier in the field of battle ; and he was 
still a worse politician, than a general. He seemed to ac- 
knowledge, by his military movements, that he had attempted 
a scheme far beyond his strength and understanding. No sooner 
had the main body of the Austrian armies come in contact with 
the Neapolitan troops, than the latter fell back to Ancona, 
pursued by the Austrian generals, Bianchi and Frimont. He 
now made overtures of peace ; but, they were rejected, and, 
finding himself in danger of being cut off from the Roman and 
NeapoHtan states, he abandoned Ancona, and marched in the 
direction of Macerata, to Tolentino. At this place, a series 
of bloody engagements was fought, on the second and third of 
May, and for some time victory seemed to hover between the 
contending armies, but at length she fixed her standard on the 
side of the imperiahsts ; and the disorderly retreat of the panic- 
struck Neapohtans rendered it evident that the term of the 
"handsome swordsman's" royalty had ended. 

The defeated prince now learned that the Calabrians were 
in insurrection, and that an EngHsh fleet, escorting an invading 
army from Sicily, had appeared in the bay of Naples. His 
army, reduced to an inconsiderable number, by repeated skir- 
mishes, in which he had behaved with so much temerity, as to 
induce his followers to suppose that he courted death, was 
directed to seek refuge in Capua. He himself, w^ho had left 
Naples splendidly apparelled, according to his usual custom, 
and at the head of a gallant army, now entered its gates attend- 
ed only by four lancers, alighted at the palace, and appeared 
before the queen, pale, and haggard, with his clothes almost 
in rags, and with all the signs of extreme dejection and fatigue. 
His salutation was affecting: — " Madam, I have not been able 
to find death." — He presently found that remaining at Naples, 
w'hich was about to fall into other hands, would endanger his 
liberty, perhaps his life; he took leave, therefore, of his queen, 
cut oft* his luxuriant hair, and, having disguised himself in a 
grey frock, escaped to the little island of Tschia, situated near 
the entrance to the bay of Naples, on the twenty -fifth of May 
reached Cannes, which had received Napoleon a few weeks 
before, on his return from Elba, and soon afterwards went to 
reside at Toulon ; while madame Murat and her family found 
an asylum in the Austrian states. 

The events attendant on the battle of Waterloo, having com- 



212 THE LIFE OF 

pelled Murat to quit France, in the month of September he 
appeared in the island of Corsica. Here, he assembled a num- 
ber of partisans, as a parody on the great and successful enter- 
prise of Napoleon in the early part of the same year ; deter- 
mined to invade the kingdom of Naples, for the purpose of 
driving out the Bourbon sovereign, Ferdinand IV., who, after 
an absence of nine years, had made his pubhc entry into Na- 
ples, on the seventeenth of June ; and to reascend the throne 
from which he had been so recently expelled. At mid-day, 
on the eighth of October, Murat arrived on the Calabrian 
coast, with two small vessels, and disembarked near Pizzo, with 
a suite of thirty persons. From the coast, the invaders marched, 
without interruption, to the first village ; where Murat, hoping 
to excite a rising of the people, in his favour, exclaimed, " I am 
Joachim, your king; it is your duty to acknowledge me." 
These words served to rouse the people to arms — not to aid, 
but to crush, a desperate enterprise, which threatened to in- 
volve their country in the horrors of a civil war. Perceiving, 
when it was too late, that popular feeling, in this part of Italy, 
was against him, Murat and his suite sought refuge in the moun- 
tains, whence they attempted to open to themselves a way to 
the coast, for the purpose of reimbarking ; but, overcome by 
the number of their pursuers, after a most gallant resistance, 
they were made prisoners, and conducted to the fort of Pizzo. 
Brief, is the interval between the deposition and the death of a 
sovereign. Immediately after his capture, Murat was tried 
before a military commission ; by whom, he was condemned to 
be shot, in company with his followers ; and, at three o'clock 
in the afternoon of the thirteenth of October, the apprehensions 
of the reigning family were extinguished, in their rival's blood. 

Murat met his fate as became a soldier, and a man. Having 
fastened his wife's picture to his breast, he refused to have his 
eyes bandaged, or to use a seat, and received six balls through 
his heart. 

Joachim Murat was born in the year 1767, — about two years 
before Napoleon Buonaparte — in the department of Lot, in 
France. His father was an innkeeper, by whom he was sent 
to Toulouse, with a design to have him educated for holy orders. 
But he soon returned, and employed himself as an assistant at 
the inn, until the commencement of the revolution ; when he 
entered the army, as a private soldier, and, having joined the 
Jacobins, was soon advanced to the rank of lieutenant-col- 
onel. Shortly afterwards, he was cashiered, with Buonaparte ; 
and it was at that time that their intimacy commenced. He 



NAPOLEON. 213 

first distinguished himself in the campaign of Italy, under Buo- 
naparte, where his merits procured him the rank of general ; 
and, in 1799, he married Caroline, the youngest sister of the 
first consul. 

As a soldier, Murat may be ranked, for bravery and enter- 
prise, amongst the first military characters of the age; and as 
a prince, his endeavours were assiduously directed to correct 
the vices, and to ameliorate the condition, of his subjects; but, 
as a statesman, he was weak and irresolute, and, although the 
desertion of the cause of the allies, after his brother-in-law's 
return from Elba, cost him his life, his treachery to Napoleon, 
(to whom he was indebted for every thing,) after his discom- 
fiture at Leipsic, will be esteemed, by an impartial posterity, 
as the vital error of a career, short, splendid, and tragical. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION ASCENDANCY OF THE ULTRA- 
ROYALISTS PROSCRIPTIONS EXECUTION OF LABEDOYERE 

AND NEY ESCAPE OF LAVALETTE. 

On the thirteenth of July, the king of France published an 
ordinance, announcing the dissolution of the chamber of depu- 
ties, and convoking a new assembly, to meet on the fourteenth 
of August. In order that the people might enjoy a more nu- 
merous representation, than at that time existed, the number 
of members was increased, by this edict, from two-hundred-and- 
sixty-two, to three-hundred-and-ninety-five ; but the mode of 
election was exposed to great objections. During the whole 
period of Napoleon's imperial sway, no vacancies whatever had 
been supphed, in the electoral colleges ; and, from death and 
other causes, the numbers, on the gecond restoration of the 
Bourbons, were reduced to nearly one-half their original 
amount. Instead of referring to the primary electors, to supply 
these vacancies, the king judged it proper to direct that the 
prefects of the departments, all of them newly appointed, and 
men of highly royal principles, should complete the number, 
by nominating twenty members for each college. As might 
have been expected, these supplementary members, with very, 
few exceptions, proved to be of the same character as the pre- 
fects ; and the deputies, chosen under such auspices, instead 



214 THE LIFE 01^ 

of being the independent representatives of the people, became 
the devoted servants of the court ; or rather of that ultra-royal- 
ist party, whose views of the omnipotence of the royal prerog- 
atives, far exceeded those either of the king or his ministry. 

The edict for dissolving the chamber of deputies, vi^as fol- 
lowed by two other ordinances ; by one of which, a number 
of peers, who had accepted seats in the soi-disant chamber of 
peers, named and established by Napoleon, since the twentieth 
of March, were declared to have acted in a manner incompat- 
ible with their dignity, and to have forfeited their right to the 
peerage of France. By the other ordinance, it was directed, 
that a number of general and other officers, who had betrayed 
the king, before the twenty-third of March, or who had attack- 
ed France and the government, with arms in their hands, and 
those who had, by violence, obtained possession of power, 
should be arrested, and carried before the competent councils 
of war, in their respective divisions ; also, that a number of 
other individuals should quit the city of Paris in three days, 
and should retire into the interior of France, to places pointed 
out by the minister of police ; where they should remain, under 
his superintendence, until the chambers had decided upon those 
who should be banished from the country, or delivered for 
trial, to the tribunals.* ^ 

The freedom of the press, from which a royal ordinance had, 



* PROSCRIPTION LISTS. 

Peers expelled. Counts — Clement de Ris, Colchen, Cornudet, 
d'Aboville. Marshal Lefebi-e, duke of Dantzic. Counts — De Croix, 
Dedeley d'Agier, Dejean, Fabre de I'Aude, Gassendi, Lacepede, 
Latour Maubourg. Dukes of Prasline, Plaisance, Le Brun. Mar- 
shals — Duke of Elching;en, (Ney); Albufuera, (Suchet); Conegliana, 
(Moncey); Treviso, (Mortier). Counts — De Barral. archbishop of 
Tours; Boissy d'Anglas. Duke de Cadore, (Champagny.) Counts 
— De Canclaux, Cassabianca, De Montesquiou,Ponte-coulant, Ram- 
pon, Segur, Valence, and Belliard. 

Proscribed Officers and Public Functionaries. — To he ar- 
rested, and brought to trial. — Ney, Labedoyere, the two Lallemands, 
Drouet d'Eslon, Lefebre Desnouettes, Ameilh, Braver, Gilly, Mou- 
ton Duvernet, Grouchy, Clausel, Laborde, Debelle, Bertrand, Drouet, 
Cambronne, Lavalette, and Rovigo. 

To T"^ ^aris, and aioait the decision of the Chambers— Sonlt, Alix, 
Exelmans, Bassano, Marbot, ¥e\H L^pellitier, Boulay de la Me- 
urthe, Mehee, Fressinet, Thibaudeau, Carnot, Vandarnme, La^ 
marque. Lobau, Harnel, Pere, Barrere, Arnault, Pommereuil, Reg- 
nault de St. Jean d'Angeiy, Arrighi (Padua); Dejean, (the son;) 
Garnau, Real, Bouvier, Dumoulard, Merlin de Douay, Durbach, 
Dirat, Deferment, Borv St. Vincent, Felix Desportes, Gamier de 
Saintes, Mellinet, Hullin, Cluys, Courtin, Forbin Janson (the eldest 
son,) and Lorgne Dideville, 



NAPOLEON. 215 

soon after the return of the king from Ghent, removed all re- 
strictions, was soon deemed too potent an instrument in the 
hands of the disaffected ; and, on the eighth of August, a second 
ordinance was issued, revoking all the licenses given to public 
journals, of every kind ; and suspending their further appear- 
ance, until fresh authority was received, by each, from the 
minister of general police: — and, that not a vestige of freedom 
might be enjoyed, by any branch of the periodical press, it was 
further directed, that all periodical writings should be submit- 
ted to the examination of a commission of censorship, the mem- 
bers of which should be appointed by the king. 

The first officer brought before the tribunals, was colonel 
Labedoyere, on a charge of treason, rebellion, and the seduc- 
tion of his troops from their allegiance. On the twelfth of 
August, Labedoyere was arraigned before a military tribunal, 
held at Paris ; when, after a long deliberation, the president, 
with visible expression of grief, pronounced the prisoner guilty 
of treason and rebellion, and condemned him to suffer death. 

When his family learned that the council of revision had 
confirmed the sentence passed upon Labedoyere, his wife, clad 
in mourning, appeared before the king, as he was entering his 
carriage, and, falling at his feet, exclaimed, — " Pardon, Sire ! 
Pardon !" — " Madame," said Louis, " I know your sentiments, 
and those of your family, and never was it more painful to me 
to pronounce a refusal. If your husband had offended only 
against me, his pardon should have been granted ; but all 
France demands the punishment of a man, who has brought 
upon her all the scourges of war. I promise my protection to 
yourself and your child." 

Execution followed soon after the sentence of the court, and 
colonel Labedoyere displayed, in his last moments, the most 
heroic fortitude. In the evening of the nineteenth of August, 
he was led to the plain of Crenelle. After receiving, on his 
knees, the benediction of the confessor, he stood erect, and, 
without waiting for his eyes to be bandaged, laid open his 
breast to his military executioners, saying, — " Sur tout, ne me 
manquez pas,'"' (above all, do not miss me.) The veterans 
levelled, and, in an instant he was no more. 

The day after the execution of Labedoyere, marshal Ney, 
who had been apprehended in the department of Lot, and 
brought to Paris, underwent his first examination, at the Con- 
cergerie ; but the final proceedings, in the marshal's case, did 
not occur until near the end of the year. 

In the same month, another of the French marshals, and one 



§16 THE LIFE OF 

of the generals of Napoleon, marshal Brune, finding himself 
exposed to the indignation of a royalist mob, at Avignon, took 
refuge in a tavern, in that city, and, at the moment when he 
conceived that the door of his asylum was about to be forced, 
terminated his life, with a pistol. This act of desperation was 
Inot sufficient to rescue him from the fury of his persecutors. 
After placing his body upon a hurdle, they promenaded it igno- 
miniously through the streets, and concluded the savage pro- 
cession, by casting the remains of their victim into the Rhone. 

The pride of the French nation had been greatly humbled 
by the second conquest of their country ; but the humiliation 
was not so complete, as to cause the inhabitants of the metrop- 
olis to submit to the degradation that awaited them, without 
the most bitter complaints, against what they termed the injus- 
tice and rapacity of their conquerors. Like the bird imagined 
in the fables of Esop, the galleries of the arts, in Paris, were 
now stripped of their borrowed plumes. Soon after the allied 
armies had entered the city, marshal Blucher visited that vast 
depository, called the Louvre, and insisted upon sending back, 
to his country, all the pictures and other works of art, which 
had been seized by the French, not only in Prussia, but all 
those also which had been taken from Cologne and A-ix-la- 
Chapelle, cities on the left bank of the Rhine. This example 
was some time afterwards followed, by the other states of Eu- 
rope : — the emperor Francis, on behalf of Florence, Modena, 
Milan, Parma, Verona, and Venice, claimed every painting of 
value, of which they had been deprived. The duke of Wel- 
lington, in support of the rights of the king of the Netherlands, 
demanded the pictures stripped from the catholic churches in 
Belgium ; while the Spaniards, claiming their share in the 
general distribution, seized upon an exhibition consisting of 
those of the Spanish school. 

In the midst of the irritation produced, in Paris, by the dis- 
mantling of the Louvre, the conflicts of parties raged with con- 
siderable violence. In the cabinet, the contest lay principally 
between the friends and the enemies of proscription — between 
those who recommended measures of concihation, and those 
who preferred the influence of rigorous retribution. The for- 
mer wished to throw a mantle of clemency and a veil of obliv- 
ion, over the past, and to retain whatever was valuable in the 
institutions of the country, although of a date subsequent to the 
period of the revolution ; while the younger branches of the 
royal family, ranging themselves at the head of the latter party, 
called for justice upon the heads of the regicides, and wished 



NAPOLEON. 217 

to bring back France to the ancient regime. The princes and 
their party — more zealous than the king — laboured incessantly 
to effect the removal of the existing administration ; and the 
influence of these ultra-royalists at length prevailed over the 
advice of the duke of Wellington and other ministers of the 
allied sovereigns. A total change in the ministry was the con- 
sequence ; Talleyrand and the duke of Otranto resigned their 
situations, and on the twenty-fifth of September, the following 
list of the new cabinet appeared in the official gazette: — 

The duke of Richelieu, for Foreign Affairs. 

The duke of Feltre, for the Department of War. 

Viscount Doubouchage, for the Marine and Colonies. 

Count de Vaublanc, for the Interior. 

The Sieur de Casas, for General Police. 

Count Barbe de Marbois, Keeper of the Seals. 

Count Corvetto, for the Finances. 

One of the principal benefits of the French revolution, was 
the suppression of religious intolerance ; and one of the first 
acts of the revolutionary government, was the admission of 
protestants to a participation in the religious privileges, and 
the political rights, of their catholic countrymen. The distin- 
guished merit of redressing many of the grievances under which 
the protestants had laboured, before the accession of Louis 
XVI. to the throne, belonged to that monarch ; the republican 
government advanced still further, in the work of amelioration; 
and Napoleon, by the provisions of the concordat, placed their 
religion precisely upon the same footing as the catholic faith, 
both in establishment and privilege. The protestants, with 
feelings natural to men, could not but admire and applaud 
measures by which they were raised, from being outcasts of 
society, and from a state of degradation and infamy, to that of 
citizens, with equal rights. Unfortunately, after the restoration 
of the BourbonsR, a very unfavourable change occurred : the 
royal charter declared the catholic faith to be the established 
religion of France ; and the protestants again became only a 
tolerated sect; persons who had long been absent, returned, 
with all their former prejudices ; the distinction of catholic and 
protestant was revived, in a hostile sense; and evident indica- 
tions were exhibited of a wish to restore the ancient regime. 
During this period, the protestants, in the south of France, 
were insulted, by the populace, on the ground of their religion; 
and their ears became familiarized with songs and exclama- 
tior)s, menacing them with a repetition of the horrors of St« 
Bartholomew's day. 

T 



218 THE LIFE OF 

For several months, the protestant population of Nismes was 
exposed to outrages of every kind. The cries of" down with 
the Hugonots ! Vive le St. BartelemiP'' resounded through the 
streets ; their houses were plundered or pulled down ; the rich 
were laid under ruinous contributions ; the looms of the poor 
manufacturers were destroyed; and women were stripped and 
scourged in the streets. No fewer than thirty females were 
subjected to these atrocities, eight of whom died, either under 
the hands of their persecutors, or in consequence of their 
stripes. Two-hundred-and-forty persons were murdered, in 
cold blood ; and upwards of two-thousand more, became the 
subjects of this persecution, either in their persons or in their 
property. A wretch, of the name of Trestaillon, was the chief 
leader in the atrocities at Nismes ; but this man, though twice 
taken into custody, was never brought to trial. At this place, 
indeed, the murderers were exempted from the punishment of 
the most numerous of their crimes, by an official order, direct- 
ing that no examinations should be made into the disorders at 
Nismes, previous to the first of September. Besides Trestail- 
lon, there was another notorious murderer, named Graftan, 
otherwise Quatre Taillon, the scene of whose bloody exploits 
was at Uzes, sixteen miles from Nismes ; and, although this 
wretch is said to have killed fourteen persons, with his own 
hands, he, like Trestaillon, escaped unpunished. 

The rage of bigotry at length rose to a height calculated to 
arouse the indignation of the surrounding states, and compelled 
the French government to interfere, with a strong hand. The 
duke of Angouleme, who had repeatedly visited Nismes, during 
the murders, and whose devoted attachment to the catholic 
religion had rendered him suspected of conniving at the perse- 
cution of the protestants, issued an order for the re-opening of 
their places of worship, which, ever since the month of July, 
they had been under the necessity of keeping shut. On quitting 
the place, orders were left, by the duke, with general La Garde, 
a member of the reformed church, to afford protection to the 
persons and property of the protestants, and to guard their 
temples against outrage. Under this guarantee, public worship 
was resumed ; but, on Sunday, the twelfth of November, at the 
moment when the general was performing the duty confided to 
him, a furious mob assembled, to resist the opening of the prot- 
estant churches, and a ruffian levelled a pistol at the general, 
and shot him through the breast. The wound was severe, but 
not mortal ; and the assassin was seized by the military, but 
was afterwards suflTered to escape. On receiving intelligence 



NAPOLEON. 219 

of this atrocity, the king issued an ordinance, which, after 
recognizing the liberty of worship, granted by the royal consti- 
tutional charter, directed that proceedings should be instituted 
against the authors of the assassination ; and, on the twenty- 
fifth of December, the protestant churches were re-opened. 

The enslaved state of the French press, prevented the voice 
of the persecuted protestants from being heard, in their own 
country. The police would not suffer a single document, nor 
even a paragraph, to appear, in any of the public papers, 
respecting their suiferings; while the conductors of those shac- 
kled mediums of public information, were permitted, and even 
solicited, to pubUsh sentiments calculated to palliate the enor- 
mities of their oppressors, and to swell the tide of popular fury 
which had begun to rush with so much violence against the 
oppressed ; and even in the chamber of deputies, if any mem- 
ber of liberal sentiments attempted to invite the attention of 
the legislature to the subject, a great part of the assembly arose, 
in a tumultuous manner, and, in the coarsest terms, insisted 
that he should be called to order. 

In England, however, where the press, as in the United 
States, is as free as the air we breathe, the situation of the 
French protestants, as depicted in the public journals, excited 
a lively interest. Meetings were held in London, and other 
parts of the kingdom, the interference of the British govern- 
ment, in favour of the sufferers, was implored, and subscrip- 
tions, to a considerable amount, were raised, for the purpose 
of ameliorating their condition. 

We have already mentioned the apprehension and examina- 
tion of marshal Ney. The first indication of that system of 
vigour, so loudly demanded by the ultra-royalists of France, 
and so confidently anticipated from the new ministry, was dis- 
played in the trial and execution of that distinguished soldier. 
The crime with which the marshal stood charged, was high 
treason ; and, on the fourth of December, the peers, having 
erected themselves into a criminal tribunal, he was impeached 
at the bar. It appeared, from the evidence, that, until the 
seventh of March, he was ignorant of the landing of Napoleon, 
in the south of France ; and that on the ninth, he received 
instructions, from the minister of Louis XVIII., to repair to 
the head of his government, at Besangon, for the purpose of 
arresting the progress of the invader. Before his departure 
from the capital, he obtained an audience of the king, and, 
during the conference, he observed, " that should Buonaparte 
be taken, he would deserve to be conducted to Paris in an iron 



220 - THE LIFE OF 

cage," and, on taking leave, kissed the king's hand. For some 
days, he remained faithful to the royal cause; but his subse- 
quent conduct proved, that he soon began to imbibe the general 
spirit of disaffection, which pervaded the army. On his arriv- 
ing at Lons-le-Saulnier, four days after his audience with his 
sovereign, he addressed a proclamation to his troops, beginning 
with these words, — " The cause of the Bourbons is for ever 
lost;" and soon afterwards he himself and his whole corps 
joined the invading army. 

Finding it impossible to resist the proofs of marshal Ney's 
treasonable disaffection, his counsel rested his defence chiefly 
on the impunity granted to the marshal, as a resident in Paris, 
by the twelfth article of the capitulation of that city, which pro- 
yided — 4hat no person in the capital should he disturbed, or 
called to account, for his political conduct; and subsequently, 
that, should any doubt arise as to the interpretation of any 
article of the capitulation, the interpretation should be made 
in favour of the besieged. No plea, however, would have been 
avaihng. It seemed determined, by the court, that the duke 
of Elchingen should die. Instead of fairly meeting that objec- 
tion, which was indeed unanswerable, the attorney-general in- 
terrupted the defendant's counsel, and required that the advo- 
cates of the accused should be interdicted, by the court, from 
availing themselves of the convention of the third of July ; on 
the ground, that this mihtary convention was the work of for- 
eigners, and was neither signed nor ratified by the king! Mar- 
shal Ney, indignant at an injustice which showed a determina- 
tion to sacrifice him, declared that he would rather not be 
defended, at all, than have only the shadow of a defence. — " I 
am accused," exclaimed he, " contrary to the faith of treaties, 
and they will not suffer me to justify myself I will act like 
Moreau — I will appeal to Europe, and to posterity. I forbid 
my counsel to utter another word." — There now reigned, 
in the chamber, for some time, a profound silence; which was 
at length broken by the attorney-general's expressing his de- 
termination to waive the right of reply, since the marshal had 
declined all further defence. 

The trial terminated in a unanimous award of guilty. Of the 
one-hundred-and-sixty peers, who voted, one-hundred-and-thir- 
ty-nine doomed the marshal to suffer death, while seventeen 
voted for banishment, and four declined giving any opinion on 
the sentence. The fortitude and bravery of marshal Ney, never 
forsook him, in any stage of the proceedings ; and when the 
proper officer repaired to his apartments to announce to him. 



NAPOLEON. 221 ' 

his sentence, the marshal^ begged that he would, without apol- 
ogy or circumlocution, proceed directly to the fact. When, in 
reading the fatal judgment, his titles were detailed, he said, — 
" What good can this do now ? — Michel Ney — then a heap of 
dust — that is all." — The day of execution immediately followed 
that of the conviction ; and at four o'clock in the morning of 
the seventh, the marshal took his last farewell of his wife and 
children. 

At nine o'clock, accompanied by his confessor, he was con- 
ducted, in a carriage, to the grand alley, leading to the observ- 
atory, the place appointed for his execution. A picquet of 
veterans, sixty in number, awaited his arrival. Having alighted 
from the carriage, the marshal faced his executioners ; and, 
after taking off his hat with his left hand, and placing his right 
upon his breast, he exclaimed, with a loud, and unfaltering 
voice — " Comrades, straight at the heart — fire." The officer 
gave the signal, at the same moment, with his sword, and he 
fell dead, without a struggle ; twelve balls having taken effect ; 
three of them in the head. 

The execution of marshal Ney deeply affected the public 
feelings. History affords no example, that we recollect, of a 
judicial murder, so horribly atrocious. When the trial was 
pending, the marshal had written a letter to the duke of Wel- 
lington, claiming the indemnity stipulated in the convention of 
Paris. The duke replied, that " the convention of the third 
of July, was clearly and expressly a military convention ; and 
that it could not, and did not, promise pardon for political 
offences, on the part of the French government." But to this, 
a very short and conclusive answer may be given, — that " it 
was by the operation of that convention, that the Bourbon sov- 
ereign obtained possession of the person of marshal Ney, and 
consequently the power of bringing him to trial for the treason 
of which we reluctantly acknowledge he had previously been 
guilty." 

General Count Lavalette, related, by marriage, to the family 
of Buonaparte, was the next person of importance, bropght to 
trial by the French court. In his case, also, the convention 
of Paris was violated. Having held the office of director of 
the posts, under the imperial government, Lavalette took forci^ 
ble possession of the post-office of Paris, in March, when Na- 
poleon was at Fontainbleau, on his way from Elba ; and thus, 
by suppressing the king's proclamation, and circulating the 
intelligence of the invader's progress, contributed essentially to 
re-establish him upon the throne. Of this crime, he was con- 

T 2 



222 THE LIFE OF 

victed, and was sentenced to death, as a traitor. The generous 
interference of marshal Marmont, procured for madauie Lava- 
lette an opportunity of imploring, in person, the royal clemen- 
cy ; but the king could not be softened, either by the power of 
this amiable woman's language, or the mute eloquence of her 
tears ; and her husband was ordered for execution. Yet, what 
could not be effected by her prayers, was accomplished by her 
skill and courage; and her husband was indebted for his life, 
to the same stratagem, which, in the year 1621, had rescued 
Grotius from perpetual imprisonment, in the fortress of Lou- 
vestien, and, in 1716, snatched lord Nithesdale from the fate 
that awaited him in the Tower of London. At three o'clock 
in the afternoon of the twentieth of December, the day imme- 
diately preceding that of Lavalette's intended execution, his 
wife, accompanied by her daughter and her governess, repaired 
to the Conciergerie, in a sedan-chair, for the purpose of dining 
with her husband. The countess, who had recently been con- 
fined, and was still in a delicate state of health, came to the 
prison, wrapped in a large mantle, and the sedan-chair was 
permitted to be brought into the room, adjoining her husband's 
apartment. About seven o'clock, she prepared to depart; but, 
while the gaoler was despatched, on some errand, into an ad- 
joining room, she threw her dress, in a moment, over her hus- 
band, and, receiving his cloak, in exchange, sunk back into his 
chair ; while Lavalette, arrayed in his disguise, quitted the 
prison, and, supported by his daughter and one of the turnkeys, 
descended to the sedan. No sooner had the chair reached the 
quay, beyond the gates of the prison, than Lavalette stepped 
into a cabriolet, prepared for the purpose, and, after driving 
about Paris, for two hours, to prevent all traces by the police, 
took refuge in the house of one of his friends. 

In the mean time, madame Lavalette personated her hus- 
band, and, with a book before her face, appeared absorbed in 
meditation. After the lapse of nearly an hour, the gaoler 
spoke to his prisoner, but,, receiving no answer, he advanced 
nearer to the chair, when the lady, with a smile, succeeded by 
strong convulsions, ex;claimed, — // est parti — He is gone. — - 
The alarm was instantly given, but no trace of the fugitive 
could be discovered. 'J'he keeper of the Conciergerie, and the 
turnkej', were immediately ordered into custody, by the police ; 
and madame Lavalette was for some time detained in prison, 
exulting, there is no doubt, in the success of her enterprise, but 
still agitated with apprehension, with regard to its final result. 

For several days, the search after Lavalette was continued,. 



NAPOLEON. 223 

with most unremitting assiduity, but without success ; and the- 
enraged ministry, conceiving that he had completely escaped, 
directed that the criminal should be executed in effigy ! 

Twelve days had now elapsed, and Lavalette was still in 
Paris. To eflect his escape from the French territory, became 
an affair of extreme difficulty and hazard. His friends, placing 
their hope and confidence in a young Englishman, whose noble 
mind and chivalrous character presented him to them, as the 
only person capable of completing that design which madame 
Lavalette had so auspiciously begun, addressed a letter, on the 
.p^^ second of January, to Mr. Crawford Bruce; confiding 
to him the secret, that Lavalette was still in Paris, and 
imploring his friendship and assistance. Moved solely by the 
commiseration which the fate of the unfortunate man excited, 
after some deliberation he embarked in the enterprise. To 
eflfect his escape without assistance, was impossible; Mr. Bruce, 
therefore, pressed into this hazardous service, captain Hutch- 
inson, a young Irish gentleman, of noble family, an officer in 
the guards, and sir Robert Wilson, an officer well known in. 
Europe, not only for his military, but his literary services,, 
against Napoleon. Through the agency of these three, aided 
by another military officer, named Elhster, Lavalette, disguised 
in a British uniform, and accompanied by sir Robert Wilson, 
left Paris, in an open carriage, at half past seven o'clock, in 
the morning of Monday, the eighth of January ; and, taking the 
route of Compeigne, Cambray, and Valenciennes, passed the 
French frontier, at Mons, in the afternoon of the following day. 
After receiving the assurance of eternal gratitude from Lava- 
lette, sir Robert Wilson returned to Paris, in the evening of 
the tenth. The vigilance of the police^ though unable to pre- 
vent the escape of Lavalette, succeeded in discovering his ben- 
efactors. On the thirteenth of January, sir Robert Wilson, 
Mr. Bruce, and captain Hutchinson, were all arrested ; and, 
having been put upon their trial, were pronounced guilty, and 
sentenced to three months' imprisonment — the most lenient 
punishment inflicted by the French laws. 

General Lallemand, Lefebre Desnouettes, marshal Grouchy,, 
captain Sari, and several more of the proscribed officers; also,. 
Joseph Buonaparte, with one of his daughters, (followed, some 
years afterwards, by Charles Buonaparte, a son of Lucien, and 
by two sons of the unfortunate Murat,) found an asylum in the 
United States; while Lucien Buonaparte,, as well as his brothers 
Louis and Jerome, were allowed to fix their residence in dif- 
ferent parts of Europe. For his gentlemanly, yet unostenta* 



224 THE LIFE OF - 

tious deportment, in his American abode, Joseph, who assumed 
the title of count de Survelliers, is universally esteemed. Very 
different, are the sentiments entertained towards his brother 
Jerome. His desertion, in obedience to Napoleon's man- 
date, of his beautiful and accomplished American bride, and 
his subsequent marriage with a daughter of the king of Wirtem- 
berg, have stamped his character with indelible disgrace and 
detestation ; and for ever deprived him of an asylum amongst 
a people by whom his brother is so much beloved. 

On the thirteenth of February, (1820) a horrible assassina- 
tion was perpetrated, upon a member of the royal family of 
France. At ten o'clock, in the night, the duke of Berri, only 
son of the count d'Artois, and presumptive heir to the crown, 
having been at the opera-house, was attending the duchess to 
her carriage : — she was already seated, when a person, passing 
quickly by his royal highness, encircled him with his left arm, 
and thrust a poniard into his left breast. On feeling the 
wound, he uttered a cry, and fell senseless into the arms of his 
servants. The duchess herself sprang out of the carriage, and 
drew the dagger from the duke's breast, whose only exclama- 
tion was "Je me me.urs^'''' — " I am dying;" soon after which, 
he expired, in the forty-third year of his age. 

The assassin, named Pierre Joseph Louvel, was employed 
in the saddlery of the king. On being interrogated, he boldly 
declared, that he had meditated the murder ever since 1814 ; 
and that he had quitted Metz, for Calais, with the intention of 
assassinating the king, on his re-entry, but had arrived too late; 
that he had at length determined on the extermination of the 
duke of Berri, as the youngest of the family, knowing that 
nature would soon relieve him from the necessity of abridging 
the days of the king. 



CHAPTER XVI 

NAPOLEON IN ST. HELENA. 

HIS DEATH. 

During the voyage from Torbay to St Helena, Napoleon 
did not suffer much from sea-sickness, after the first week. 
He rarely appeared on deck, until after dinner. He break- 
fasted in his own cabin, at ten or eleven o'clock, and spent a 
considerable portion of the day in writing and reading. Be- 



NAPOLEON. 225 

fore he sat down to dinner, he generally played a game at 
chess, and remained at that meal, in compliment to the admi- 
ral, about an hour ; at which time, coflee was brought to him, 
and he left the table, to take a walk on the deck, accompanied 
by count Bertrand or Las Cases ; the admiral and the officers 
who had dined with him, continuing at table an hour or two 
longer. 

While walking on the quarter-deck, he freely spoke to all 
the officers who could understand and converse with him ; and 
often asked Mr. Warden, the surgeon of the Northumberland, 
questions in regard to the prevailing complaints, and mode of 
treating the sick. He occasionally played a game at whist, 
and generally retired to his cabin about nine ; this being his 
uniform course of passing the time, throughout the whole 
voyage. 

The little Bertrands were interesting children : the youngest 
was between three and four years old ; the eldest is a native 
of Trieste, and was born when his father was governor of the 
Illyrian provinces ; the second was a girl of an animated 
disposition, that betrayed occasional symptoms of violence. 
The military character seemed to have almost exclusively 
seized upon the minds of these sprightly little voyagers ; from 
morning till night, they were employed in fencing, marching, 
and charging at a half-canter, in imitation of cavalry ; in which, 
the girl joined, with a true Amazonian spirit, under the direc- 
tion of a little French boy, who appeared to have been born 
in a camp. 

Frequent attempts were n'tade upon the loyalty of the little 
Bertrands, by courting them, in very seducing ways, to say, 
Vive le Rot, and Vive Louis dix-huit. But the two eldest 
never failed to reply with, Vive V Empereur. The youngest 
of the three was, however, at length, bribed, by irresistible 
sweetmeats, to say, Vive Louis dix-huit. But this defection 
was invariably followed by the reproaches of his incorruptible 
brother and sister. That charming boy is said to bear a strong 
resemblance to the young Napoleon, and acquired, on board 
the Northumberland, the title of John Bully which he tri- 
umphantly retained ; and, if asked who he was, appeared 
pleased to exclaim, Jean Booll. 

Whenever an opportunity offered, the zealous attendants of 
Napoleon never failed to represent him in a manner that might 
lessen any unfavourable impressions, which they supposed the 
English entertained respecting him. The impetuosity of his 
temper being mentioned, it was not denied ; but his frequent 



226 THE LIFE OF 

and even habitual correction of it, was illustrated by several 
anecdotes, related by Las Cases : 

" The emperor," said this vrarmly attached follower, " had 
a confidential secretary, a man of superior talents, who was 
blessed with a disposition so mild, and a temper so smooth, 
that it was almost impossible to trouble the one, or to ruffle 
the other. The impetuosity of his imperial master, with the 
uncertain hours at which he was frequently summoned to his 
duty, and the calm preparation in which he was ever found to 
perform it, sufficiently proves the character that has been 
given of him. Napoleon seldom took a pen into his hand : 
his general practice was to dictate to others, which he did 
with the rapidity of thought; and, if an idea struck him in the 
middle of the night, the secretary in waiting was instantly sum- 
moned, to transmit it to paper. This officer had happened, 
on one of these hasty occasions, to mistake an expression, as 
it was dictated to him ; and, for this accidental mistake, was 
dismissed from the emperor's presence, in terms of the severest 
displeasure.. The next morning, the emperor sent for his 
secretary ; and, when the latter entered the saloon, with his 
usual placid and undisturbed countenance, the emperor, with 
rather an angry look, demanded of him, if he had slept, the 
preceding night ; and, on being informed that he had enjoyed 
'his usual hours of comfortable repose, this reply was given: 
" Then, you have been more fortunate than myself; so take 
your pen;' — and a decree for a very liberal pension to the 
secretary, was instantly dictated." 

The empress Josephine became the subject of conversation, 
between Mr. Warden the surgeon of the Northumberland, and 
Las Cases. The sudden death of this excellent woman, was 
universally lamented, and is attributed to a very extraordi- 
nary circumstance, and a very exalted personage. Josephine 
had so far won the admiration and high esteem of the em- 
peror Alexander, that he used to dedicate many of his leisure 
hours to the pleasure of her fascinating conversation. His 
visits were not only frequent, but continual, during his stay at 
Paris. Her state of health was precarious, and, on some par- 
ticular occasion, her physician had prescribed medicines of a 
nature that required the utmost care and precaution, and an 
absolute confinement to her chamber: but, at this time, the 
emperor paid one of his visits ; when her respect for him ren- 
dered her incautious, and she received the imperial guest in 
the usual manner. They walked, during the time of his stay, 
in the gardens of Mal-Maison, and the consequence of this 



NAPOLEON. 227 

promenade was fatal : — she was seized with a violent inflam- 
mation in the lungs, which defied all medical assistance, and, 
in a few days, she was no more. 

From the same authority,* we have an account of her mar- 
riage with Napoleon. An order, issued by the convention, to 
disarm, the citizens, occasioned the introduction of Buona- 
parte, then a general, and high in military command, to Jose- 
phine. Her husband, count Beauharnois, had been guillotined 
about eighteen months. He had left a son, Eugene Beau- 
harnois, at this time a most interesting youth, who took an 
opportunity of addressing the general on parade, and soliciting 
his father's sword ; which, according to a late order, had been 
removed from his mother's residence. Charmed by the re- 
quest, and the animated modesty with which it was made, 
Buonaparte instantly granted the petition. The mother wrote 
a letter the next day, to thank the general for his kindness to 
her son. This grateful attention produced a visit, on his part; 
and the lady not being at home, on her return she sent a note 
of apology and particular invitation. An interview of course 
followed : he was instantly captivated, and in six weeks she 
became his wife. 

On the twenty-second of August, the Northumberland reach- 
ed Madeira, and one of her consorts, the Havanna frigate, was 
sent into the port of Funchal, for refreshments. During this- 
time, there prevailed a tempest, called a scirocco levaiite, which 
did much injury to the grapes; a visitation attributed, by the 
ignorant and superstitious inhabitants, to the presence of Na- 
poleon. 

With regard to phenomena, chance produced one of a much 
more extraordinary kind, on the twenty-third of September ; 
when the Northumberland crossed the line in 0° latitude, 0° 
longitude, and 0° declination. This is a circumstance which 
chance alone may perhaps repeat only once in a century; 
since it is necessary to arrive precisely at the first meridian 
about noon, in order to pass the line at that same hour, or to 
arrive there at the same time with the sun. 

The crossing of the equator caused great merriment and 
disorder amongst the crew, and the ceremony which the En- 
glish sailors call the christening. They dress themselves up in 
a most grotesque fashion : one is disguised as Neptune, and 
all persons on board the ship, w'ho have not previously crossed 
the line, are formally presented to him ; an immense razor, 

* Las Cases. 



228 THE LIFE OF 

formed generally out of an old rusty hoop, is passed over thei^ 
chins, previously smeared with a lather made of pitch ; buckets 
of water are thrown over them, and the loud bursts of laugh^ 
ter which accompany their retreat, complete their initiation 
into the mystic rite. No one is spared ; the officers being 
generally more roughly used than the lowest of the sailors. 

The French party submitted, with perfect good humour, to. 
the novel freedoms of the marine saturnalia. Nor had the 
Neptune and Amphitrite of the day, any cause of complaint. 
They were seated in a boat filled with water — the throne, a 
match-tub, the sceptre, a painter's brush. They were sur- 
rounded by their tritons, consisting of fifty or sixty of the most 
athletic men in the ship, naked to the waist, and bedaubed 
with various colours, each bearing a pail of salt water, to 
drench the subjects of the briny god. The license of the pas- 
time may be imagined, when captain Ross, the commander, 
received the contents of one with the utmost pleasantry. 

Bertrand, Montholon, Gourgaud, and Las Cases, with all 
the domestics, presented themselves to the temporary, but po- 
tent Neptune, and received, wnth the necessary cheerfulness, 
their share of his ablutions. The first two led forward their 
children ; each of them presenting, from their extended little 
hands, a double Napoleon, to the presiding deity of the deep. 
A sea-boy sang the song of "The snug little Island;" some 
of the lines of which were not very complimentary to the enc'- 
mies of Great Britain ; yet the sentiments did not produce 
even an unpleasant look. The ladies viewed the scene from 
an elevated position, and seemed equally amused and astonish- 
ed at the festivities ; but Neptune was rather disappointed that 
Napoleon did not make his appearance, though he acknow- 
ledged the sovereign dignity, by sending his tribute. 

One afternoon, the sailors caught an enormous shark. The 
emperor inquired the cause of the great noise and confusion 
which he suddenly heard overhead, and being informed of 
what had occurred, he expressed a wish to have a sight of the 
sea-monster. He accordingly went up to the poop, and in- 
cautiously approached too near the animal, which, by a sudden 
movement, knocked down four or five of the sailors, and had 
nearly broken Napoleon's legs. He descended the gangway, 
covered with blood ; the spectators thinking him severely hurt, 
but it proved to be only the blood of the shark. 

On the evening of the seventeenth of October, Napoleon 
landed at Jamestown, in the island of St. Helena. He was 
conducted to a house belonging to a gentleman named Porte- 



NAPOLEON. 229 

ous, which had been rented, for his accommodation, by the ad- 
miral, and was one of the best habitations in the town. It 
was not, however, free from inconvenience. Napoleon, could 
not make his appearance at the windows, or even descend 
from his bed-chamber, without being exposed to the rude and 
ardent gaze of those who wished to gratify their curiosity with 
a sight of the imperial captive. Counts Bertrand and Montho- 
fon, also, with their ladies and children ; count Las Cases and 
his son ; general Gourgaud and Mr. O'Meara, (a surgeon of 
the British navy, whom Napoleon had invited to attend him as 
physician) were accommodated in the same house. 

At at early hour, on the morning of the eighteenth. Napo- 
leon, accompanied by the admiral and Las Cases, proceeded 
up to Longwood, a country-seat of the lieutenant-governor, 
about two leagues from Jamestown, which he was informed 
was, the place deemed the most proper for his future residence. 
He was mounted on a spirited little black horse, lent to him, 
for the occasion, by the governor, colonel Wilkes. On his 
way, he observed a neat little spot, called the Briars, about 
two-hundred yards from the road, belonging to a gentleman 
named Balcombe, who, Napoleon was informed, was to be his 
purveyor ; with the romantic situation of which, Napoleon 
seemed much pleased. 

LongVv'ood is situated on a plain, formed on the summit of 
a mountain, about eighteen-hundred feet above the level of the 
sea ; and, including Deadwood, comprises about fifteen-hun- 
dred acres, planted with an indigenous tree, called gumwood. 
Its appearance is sombre and unpromising. Napoleon, how- 
ever, said that he would be more contented to fix his residence 
there, than to remain in the town, as a mark for the prying 
curiosity of importunate spectators. The house consisted of 
only five rooms, on a ground floor, built one after another, ac- 
cording to the wants of the family, without any regard either 
to order or convenience, and totally inadequate to the accom- 
modation of himself and his suite. Several additions were con- 
sequently required ; which it was evident could not be com- 
pleted for some weeks, even.under the superintendence of so 
active an oflficer as sir Georo-e Cockburn. 

On his return from Longwood, Napoleon proceeded to the 
Briars, and intimated to the admiral that he would rather re- 
main there until the necessary additions were made to Long- 
wood, than return to Jamestown^ provided that he could ob- 
tain the proprietor's consent ; a request which was immediately 
granted. 

U 



230 THE LIFE OF 

The Briars is the name of an estate, situated about a mile 
and a half from Jamestown. It comprises a few acres of 
highly cultivated land, with extensive kitchen-gardens and ex- 
cellent fruit, plentifully supphed with water, adorned with 
many delightful shady walks, and long celebrated for the hos- 
pitahty of the proprietor, Mr. Balcombe. On an elevated 
mound, about fifty yards from the dwelling-house, stood a little 
pavilion of the gothic form, consisting of one good room on 
the ground-floor, and two garrets ; which Napoleon, not wish- 
ing to cause any inconvenience to the family of his host, se- 
lected for his abode. In the lower room, was his camp-bed, 
and in this room he eat, drank, slept, and dictated a por- 
tion of his eventful life. Las Cases and his son were accom- 
modated in one of the garrets above, and Napoleon's first 
valet-de-chambre, Marchand, and a ^ew more members of his 
household, slept in the other, and on the floor in a little hall, 
opposite the entrance of the lower room. At first, his dinner 
was sent ready cooked from the town ; but afterwards Mr. 
Balcombe had a kitchen prepared for his use. The accom- 
modations were so insufljcient, that Napoleon frequently walk- 
ed out, after he had finished his dinner, in order to allow his 
domestics an opportunity of eating theirs in the room which 
he had just left. 

Mr. Balcombe's family consisted of his wife, two daughters, 
one about twelve, and the other fifteen years of age, and two 
boys of five or six. Napoleon and Las Cases had no sooner 
entered the garden, one morning, than they were met by the 
young ladies — the younger, sprightly, giddy, and caring for 
nothing — the elder more sedate, but, at the same time, pos- 
sessing great naivete of manner ; and both speaking a little 
French. They had ranged through the garden, and put all 
the flowers in contribution, to present them to the emperor, 
whom they overwhelmed with the most whimsical and ridiculous 
questions. Napoleon was much amused by this familiarity, 
to which he was so little accustomed. — "We have been at 
a masked ball," said he, when the young ladies had retired. 

In the evening. Napoleon went .to visit his neighbours. Mr. 
Balcombe, who was suffering under a fit of the gout, lay 
stretched on a sofa : his wife and the two young ladies, vi^ere 
beside him. The " masked ball" was resumed, with great 
spirit. The conversation turned on novels. One of the young 
ladies liad read Madame Cottin's Mathilde, and was delighted 
to find that the emperor was acquainted with the work. An 
Englishman, with a great round face, who had been listening 



NAPOLEON. 231 

eariioatly, in order to turn liis liltl(? knouh'dno of Froncli to 
the best account, modestly ventured to ask tlu; onipcror, 
vvliether the princess, the friend of Matilda, whose cljaraeter 
he particularly admircMl, was still living. 'I'he en)p<'r()r, with 
a very solenni air, replied, " No, sir, she is dead and huried :" 
and he was almost tempted to believe bo was himself iioaxed, 
until ho found that the melancholy tifliiins drew tears from the 
great starinrj ey(>s of the Mnjvlishman. 

The young ladies evinced no less simplicity, though in them 
it was more pardonahhi ; however, their visiters were; l(;d to 
believe that they had not studied chronolojjy v(My deeply. One 
of them, turning over Florian's " Kstelle," to show that she 
could read Trench, haj)pened to light upon the name of (iastoii 
d(; l'\)ix, and finding him distinguished by tlie tith; ol' general^ 
she asked the emperor, whetiier ho had been satislied with his 
coiMluct in the army, whether he had escaped the dangers of 
war, and whether Imj was still alive. 

Napoleon frecpiently tlrt)pped in to Mr. nalcombe's, to play 
a rubber of whist, or bold a little iurnrcr.'s'azione. On one ac- 
cusion, he indulged the children by joining in a game of blind- 
man's-bulV, allording nuich annisement to the young ladies. 
Nothing was omitted, by this worthy family, that could lessen 
the inconveniences of his situation. A captain of artillery re- 
sided at the Rriars, together with an orderly olllcer, and at 
first an ollicer and some privates, also, were stationed there, 
as an additional security against the escape of tho imperial 
captive; but, on a remonstrance being made to sir George 
Cockburn, lie ordered ihem to be remov(ul. 

Mr. lialcombe's little garden, in which Napoleon so often 
walked, was su|)(!ri!itcnded by a Malay Indian. The first limo 
the en)p(!ror saw him, he d«!sired l/is ('ases, according to his 
usual custom, to question him respecting his history ; and his 
answei-s strongly excit(;d Napoleon's interest. He had been 
forced, he said, from his home, by tlu; crew of an lOnglish vchscI, 
and sold at St. FTelena ; where he had continued, ever since, a 
slave. His story bore every niark of triilh. His countenance 
liad a frank and benevolent expression; his eyes were ani- 
mat(!d and sparkling ; his apj)eararice was !)y no means abject; 
but, on the contrary, truly pre|)ossessing. 

The history of the poor fidlow's nnsfortune filled the empe- 
ror with indignation ; and, a fv.w days atlerwards, he expressed 
a wish to purchase him, and send him back to his own country. 
He mentioned the subject to the admiral. The latter at first 
defended his countrymen, and declared that old Toby (which 



232 THE LIFE OF 

was the name of the unhappy slave) must be an impostor, for 
the thing was impossible. He, however, inquired into the 
matter, and finding the story true, he participated in the indig- 
nation expressed by the emperor, and promised to exert his 
best endeavours for the fulfilment of his humane design. 

When Napoleon and Las Cases were in the garden, the for- 
mer generally stopped near Toby's hut, and made the latter 
question him respecting his country, the days of his youth, his 
family, and his present situation. One would have supposed, 
that he wished to study the feelings of the old slave; and he 
always closed the conversation by giving him a Napoleon. 
Toby was much attached to the illustrious stranger and his 
companion : their presence seemed always to fill him with joy. 
When they entered the garden, he immediately suspended his 
work, and, resting on his spade, gazed on them with an air 
of satisfaction. He called the emperor the good gentleman : 
this was the only name he ever applied to him, and he knew 
him by no other. 

" Poor Toby," said the emperor, one day, " has been torn 
from his family, from his native land, and sold to slavery: 
could any thing be more miserable to himself, or more criminal 
in others ? If this crime be the act of the English captain alone, 
he is doubtless one of the vilest of men ; but, if it be that of 
the whole crew, it may have been committed by men perhaps 
not so base as might be imagined ; for vice is always indi- 
vidual, and scarcely ever collective. Joseph's brethren could 
not bring themselves to slay him ; while Judas, a cool, hypo- 
critical, calculating villain, betrayed his master. A philoso- 
pher has affirmed, that men are born wicked : it would be 
both difficult and idle to attempt discovering whether the as- 
sertion be true. This, at least, is certain, that the great mass 
of society is not wicked ; for if the majority were determined 
to be criminal, and violate the laws, who would have the 
power to restrain or prevent them ? This is the triumph of 
civilization; this happy result springs from its bosom, and 
arises out of its nature. Sentiments are, for the most part, 
traditionary: we feel them, because they were felt. by others 
who preceded us : thus, we must look to the developement of 
human reason and faculties, for the only key to social order,, 
the only secret of the legislator. Only those who wish to de- 
ceive the people, and rule them for their own personal advan-. 
tage, would desire to keep them in ignorance. The more 
they are enlightened, the more will they be convinced of the 
utility of laws, and of the necessity of defending them ; and the 



NAPOLEON. 233 

more steady, happy, and prosperous, will society become. 
If, however, knowledge should ever be dangerous to the mul- 
titude, it can be only when the government, in opposition to 
the interests of the people, drives them into an unnatural situa- 
tion, or dooms the lower classes to perish for want. In such 
a case, knowledge would inspire them with a spirit to defend 
themselves, or to become criminal. 

" Look at the United States, where, without any apparent 
force or effort, every thing goes on prosperously ; every one 
is happy and contented : and this is because the public wishes 
and interests are in fact the ruling power. 

" When I acquired the supreme direction of affairs, it was 
wished that I might become a Washington. Words cost noth- 
ing ; and no doubt those who were so ready to express the 
wish, did so without any knowledge of times, places, persons^ 
or things. Had I been in America, I would wilhngly have 
been a Washington, and I should have had little merit in so 
being; for I do not see howl could reasonably have acted 
otherwise. But, had Washington been in France, exposed to 
discord within, and invasion from without, I would have de- 
fied Him to be what he was in America ; at least, he would 
have been a fool to attempt it, and would only have prolonged 
the existence of evil." 

On another occasion, pausing before Toby, he said, — " What, 
after all, is this poor human machine ? There is not one whose 
exterior form is like another, or whose internal organization 
exactly resembles the rest ! It is by disregarding this truth, 
that we are led into so many errors ! Had Toby been a Brutus* 
he would have put himself to death ; if an Esop, he would 
now, perhaps, be the governor's adviser ; if an ardent and 
zealous Christian, he would have borne his chains in the sight 
of God, and blessed them. As for poor Toby, lie endures his 
misfortunes very quietly ; he stoops to his work, and spends 
his days in innocent tranquillity." — Then, after looking at him,, 
a few moments, in silence, he turned away, and said, " Cer- 
tainly, there is a wide step, from poor Toby to a king Richard ! 
—and yet," continued he, as he walked along, " the crime is 
not the less atrocious ; for this man, after all, had his family, 
his happiness, and his liberty ; and it was a horrible act of 
cruelty to bring him here, to languish in the fetters of his 
slavery." — Then, suddenly stopping short, he added, "But I 
read in your eyes, that you think he is not the only example 
of the sort, at St. Helena !' 

Napoleon used to relate, that, after one of his great actions 

U2 



234 THE LIFE OF 

in Italy, he passed over the field of battle, before the bodies- 
were interred. " In the deep silence of a beautiful moonlight 
night," said the emperor, " a dog leaped suddenly from beneath 
the clothes of his dead master, rushed, upon us, and then im- 
mediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He 
alternately licked his master's hand, and ran towards us, at 
once soliciting aid, and seeking revenge. Whether owing to 
my own particular turn of mind, at the moment," continued 
the emperor, " the time, the place, or the action itself, I know 
not ; but certainly no incident, on any field of battle, ever pro- 
duced upon me, so deep an impression. I involuntarily stop- 
ped, to contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, perhaps 
has friends in the camp, or in his company ; and here he lies, 
forsaken by all, except his dog ! What a lesson Nature here 
presents, through the medium of an animal! What a strange 
being is man ! and how mysterious are his impressions ! I had, 
without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate 
of an army ; I had beheld, with tearless eyes, the execution of 
those operations, by which numbers of my countrymen were 
sacrificed; and here my feelings were aroused, by the mourn- 
ful howling of a dog ! Certainly, at that moment,. I should 
have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy : I could very 
well imagine Achilles surrendering the body of Hector, at the 
sight of Priam's tears." 

Counts Bertrand and Montholon, with their ladies and chil- 
dren, and also general Gourgaud and Dr. O'Meara, hved to- 
gether, at the house of Mr. Porteous. When any of them de-- 
sired to visit the Briars, or to go out of the town elsewhere,. 
no other restriction was imposed upon them, than causing 
them to be accompanied by Mr. O'Meara, or some other 
British officer, or to be followed by a soldier. In this manner, 
they were permitted to visit any part of the island, except the 
batteries and forts. They were visited by colonel and Mrs. 
Wilkes, lieutenant-colonel and Mrs. Skelton, the members 
of the council, and most of the respectable inhabitants, as well 
as the officers belonging to. the garrison and squadron, and 
their families. Little evening parties were, occasionally, givea 
by the French ; matters being so conducted that there was 
little appearance of constraint ; and sir George Cockburn gave 
several well-attended balls, to all of which they were invited,, 
and, with the exception of Napoleon, they frequently went. 

In the mean time, no exertions were spared, by the admiral, 
to enlarge and improve the old building of Longwood, so as to, 
render it capable of containing so great an increase of in-- 



NAPOLEON, 236 

mates. For this purpose, all the workmen, not only in the 
squadron, but in the island also, were employed ; and Long- 
wood, for nearly two months, presented as busy a scene as 
ever had been witnessed, during the war, in any of the English 
dock-yards, while a fleet was preparing for sea, under the per- 
sonal directions of some of the first naval commanders. Inde- 
fatigable in his exertions, the admiral frequently arrived at 
Longwood shortly after sunrise, stimulating, by his presence, 
the St. Helena workmen, who, lazy and indolent, in general, 
beheld, with astonishment, the activity and despatch of a man 
of war, succeeding the characteristic idleness which, till then, 
they had been accustomed both to witness and to practise. 
Every day, bodies of two or three-hundred seamen were em- 
ployed, in carrying up, from Jamestown, timber and other 
materials for building, together with furniture ; which, though 
the best was purchased, at an enormous expense, wherever it 
could be procured, was paltry and old-fashioned. So deficient 
was the island in the means of transportation, that almost every 
thing, even the very stones for building, were carried up the 
steep side-path on the heads and shoulders of the seamen, oc- 
casionally assisted by fatigue-parties of the fifty-third regiment. 
By means of incessant labour, Longwood-House was enlarged, 
so as to admit, on the ninth of December, Napoleon and part 
of his household, count and countess Montholon and children, 
together with count and young Las Cases. 

Napoleon rode to Longwood on a horse which had been 
brought for him from the Cape. He had not seen him before : 
he was a small, sprightly, and rather a handsome animal. The 
emperor wore his uniform of the chasseurs of the guard ; his 
graceful figure and handsome countenance being particularly 
remarkable. His appearance attracted general notice ; many 
persons had collected on the road, to see him pass ; the admi- 
ral was very attentive to him, and several other English officers, 
together with those of his own household, formed his escort. 

At the entrance of Longwood, a guard was under arms, 
who rendered the prescribed honours to the august captive. 
The emperor's horse, which was spirited and untractable, beins" 
unused to this kind of parade, was startled at the sound of the 
drum : he refused to pass the gate, and it was only by the help 
of the spur, that his rider succeeded in forcing him to ad- 
vance. 

The admiral took great pains to point out to its new resi- 
dents, even the minutest details at Longwood. He had super- 
intended all the arrangements, and some things were the work 



236 THE LIFE OF 

even of his own hands. The emperor was satisfied with every 
thing, and the admiral seemed highly pleased : he had antici- 
pated petulance and disdain ; but Napoleon manifested perfect 
good humour. 

He retired at six o'clock, and beckoned Las Cases to follow 
him to his chamber. Here, he examined various articles of 
furniture, and inquired whether his friend were similarly pro- 
vided. On Las Cases replying in the negative, he insisted on" 
his accepting of them ; saying, in the most engaging manner, 
" Take them, I shall want for nothing ; I shall be taken better 
care of than you." 

Napoleon himself had a small narrow bed-room, on the 
ground-floor; a writing-room of the same dimensions ; and a sort 
of small ante-chamber, in which there was a bath. The writing- 
room opened into a dark and low apartment, which W<is con- 
verted into a dining-room. The opposite wing consisted of a 
bed-room, larger than Napoleon's, which,, with an ante-cham- 
ber and a closet, formed the accommodations for the count 
and countess Montholon, and son. From the dining-room, a 
door led to a small drawing-room. To extend the latter, one 
longer, much higher, and more airy, was built, of wood, by sir 
George Cockburn, with three windows on each side, and a ve- 
randa, leading to the garden. This was the only good room 
in the building. Las Cases had, at this time, a room next the 
kitchen, through the ceiling of which an aperture Was cut, so 
as to admit a very narrow stair, which led to a sort of cock- 
loft, above, where his son reposed ; but, some time afterwards, 
an apartment was built for the count and his son, in the rear 
of the house. The garrets aver the old building were floored, 
and converted into apartments for the servants; and subse- 
quently additional rooms were constructed, for the latter, as 
well as for general Gourgaud, the orderly officer, and Dr. 
O'Meara, who, in the mean time, were lodged in tents. Count 
and countess Bertrand and family, were lodged in a small 
house at Hut's Gate, about a mile from Longwood ; which, 
though uncomfortable, was nevei'theless hired at their own re- 
quest, and was the only habitation that could be procured, at 
a moderate rent, in the neighbourhood ; as it was found im- 
possible to accommodate them at Longwood, until a new house, 
the foundation of which was immediately laid, could be fin- 
ished. 

A space of about twelve miles in circumference was allow- 
ed to Napoleon, within which he might ride or walk, without 
being accompanied by a British ofiicer. Within this space» 



NAPOLEON. 237 

was the camp of the fifty-third regiment; one division at 
Deadwood, about a mile from Longvvood-House, another at 
Hut's Gate, opposite to Bertrand's, close to whose door there 
was an officer's guard. An arrangement was made with Ber- 
trand, by the means of which persons furnished with a pass 
from him, had permission to enter Longwood grounds. A 
subaltern's guard was placed at tha entrance to Longwood, 
about six-hundred paces from the house, and a cordon of sen- 
tinels and picquets was stationed around the house. At nine 
o'clock at night, the sentinels were drawn in, and stationed in 
communication with each other ; surrounding the house, in 
such positions, that no persons could enter or depart, without 
being seen and examined by them. At the entrance of the 
house, double sentinels were placed, and patroles were contin- 
ually traversing the grounds. After nine, Napoleon was not 
permitted to leave the house, unless in company with a field- 
officer ; and no person whatever was allowed to pass without 
the countersign. These regulations continued until daylight. 
Every landing-place in the island, and indeed every place which 
bore the semblance of one, was furnished with a picquet ; and 
sentinels were placed even upon every goat-path leading to 
the sea, although the obstacles presented by nature, in nearly 
all the paths in that direction, would, of themselves, have proved 
insurmountable, to a person so corpulent as Napoleon. 

From the various signal-posts on the island, ships are fre- 
quently discovered at twenty-four leagues' distance, and always 
a long time before they can approach the shore. Every vessel, 
except a British ship of war, was accompanied, on her ap- 
proach, by one of the cruisers; which remained with her until 
she was either allowed to anchor, or was ordered to depart. 
No foreign vessel was suffered to anchor, except under cir- 
cumstances of great distress ; in which case, no person from 
her was permitted to land, and an officer and party were sent 
on board, to take charge of her, as long as she remained. 
Every fishing-boat belonging to the island, was numbered, and 
anchored every evening, at sunset, under the superintendence 
of a captain of the navy ; after which, no boat, except guard- 
boats from the ships of war, which rowed about the island all 
night, were allowed to be at sea. The orderly officer was also 
instructed to ascertain the actual presence of Napoleon, twice 
in the course of twenty-four hours ; which was done with as 
much dehcacy as possible ; and every human precaution, to 
prevent escape^ except imprisoning or chaining him, was 
adopted, by sir George Cockburn. 



238 THE LIFE OF 

The officers of the fifty -third regiment, and of the St. 
Helena corps, and several of the most respectable inhabitants^ 
with their wives, were introduced to Napoleon ; at whose 
table, some of them were weekly invited to dine. Officers and 
other respectable passengers from India and China, went, in 
great numbers, to Longwood, to request a presentation to the 
fallen chief; in which expectation, they were rarely disappoint- 
ed. Many ladies and gentlemen, who went up at an incon- 
venient time, have remained, in Dr. O^Meara's room, long 
after the topsail of the ship which was to waft them to Eng- 
land, was loosed, in the hope that Napoleon would present him- 
self at one of the windows. " I have frequentl}^," says Dr.. 
O'Meara, " been unable to withstand the solicitude of more 
than one fair expectant, to place some of the servants of the 
house in a situation where they might be enabled to apprize 
them of his approach to the windows or door of the drawing- 
room, where they might be afforded an opportunity of stealing 
a glance at the renowned captive." 

Napoleon's hours of rising were uncertain ; much depend- 
ing upon the quantity of rest enjoyed by him during the night. 
He was, in general, a bad sleeper, and frequently rose at three 
or four o'clock ; in which case, he read or wrote until six or 
seven ; when, if the weather were fine, he sometimes went out 
to ride, attended by some of his generals, or lay down again, to 
rest, for about two hours. When he retired to bed, he could 
not sleep, unless a perfect state of darkness were obtained, by 
the closing of every cranny through which there might pass a 
ray of light ; although he sometimes fell asleep on the sofa, 
and remained so, for a few minutes, in the middle of the'day. 
When ill, his first valet-de-chambre occasionally read to him, 
until he fell asleep. When he breakfasted in his own room, 
it was generally served on a little round table, between nine 
and ten ; when in company with his suite, at eleven. After 
breakfast, he mostly dictated to some of his officers, for a few 
hours, and at two or three o'clock, received such visiters, as, 
by previous appointment, had been directed to present them- 
selves. Between four and five in the afternoon, he rode out 
for an hour or two, on horseback^ or in the carriage, accom- 
panied by all his suite ; then returned, and dictated or read 
until eight, or occasionally played a game of chess ; when din- 
ner was announced, he eat heartily, and did not appear par- 
tial to highly seasoned or rich foods. One of his most favourite 
dishes, was a roasted leg of mutton, and he was partial also to 
mutton chops. He rarely drank, at his dinner, as much as a 



NAPOLEON. 239 

pint of claret, which was much diluted with water. When the 
servants had withdrawn, and there were no visiters, he some- 
times played at chess, or at whist, but more frequently sent 
for a volume of Corneille, or of some other esteemed author, 
and read aloud, for half an hour, or chatted with the ladies and 
the officers of his suite. He never eat more than two meals 
each day, and usually retired to rest between ten and eleven 
o'clock. 

Napoleon was not inattentive to the duties of the toilette. 
He usually appeared, in the morning, in a white night-gown, 
with loose trowsers and stockings joined in one, a chequered 
red Madras handkerchief round his head, and his shirt collar 
open. When dressed, he wore a green uniform, very plainly 
made, and without ornament, similar to that, which, by its 
simphcity, used to mark the sovereign, amongst the splendid 
dresses at the Tuileries, — white waistcoat, and white or nan- 
keen small-clothes, with silk stockings, and shoes with gold 
buckles ; a black stock, a triangular cocked hat, with a very 
small tri-coloured cockade. 

On the thirtieth of December, Napoleon rode out at ran- 
dom, and soon found himself in a field where some labourers 
were engaged in ploughing. He seemed highly interested in 
the operation. He alighted from his horse, seized the plough, 
and, to the great astonishment of the man who was holding it, 
he himself traced a furrow of considerable length. 

Before evening, the httle colony at Longwood was increased 
by the arrival of captain Piontkowsky, a native of Poland. 
He was one of those individuals whom the emperor had left 
behind him, at Plymouth ; but his devotedness to the emperor, 
and his grief at being separated from him, had subdued the 
severity of the English ministers, and he received permission 
to proceed to St. Helena. 

" In our customary rides," narrates the pleasingly garrulous 
Las Cases, " we had, for some days, fixed on a regular resting- 
place, in the middle of the valley. There, surrounded by 
desert rocks, an unexpected flower displayed itself: under an 
humble roof, we discovered a charming young girl, of about 
sixteen years of age. We had surprised her, the first day, in 
her usual costume : it announced any thing but affluence. 
The following morning, we found she had bestowed the great- 
est pains upon her toilette ; but our pretty blossom of the fields 
now appeared to us nothing more than a very ordinary garden- 
flower. Nevertheless, we henceforth stopped at her dwelling, 
a few moments, every day ; she always approached, a few 



240 THE LIFE OF 

paces, to catch the two or three sentences which the emperof 
either addressed, or caused to be translated to her, as he passed 
by, and we continued our route, discoursing on her charms. 
From that time, she formed an addition to the particular no- 
menclature of Longwood : she became our nymph. — Amongst 
those who were intimate with him, the emperor used, without 
premeditation, to invent new names, for every person and ob- 
ject that attracted his notice. Thus, the pass through which 
we were proceeding at the moment of which we are now 
writing, received the name of the Valley of Silence ; our host 
at the Briars was our Amphitrion ; his neighbour, the major, 
who was five feet high, was our Hercules ; sir George Cock- 
burn was my Lord Admiral, as long as we were in good 
spirits, but, when ill-humour prevailed, there vv^as no title for 
him but such as the shark. 

" Our nymph is the identical heroine of the little pastoral, 
with which Dr. Warden has been pleased to embellish his letters. 
I am told that Napoleon brought her great good fortune. The 
celebrity which she acquired through him, attracted the curi- 
osity of travellers, and her own charms effected the rest : she 
is become the wife of a very rich merchant, or captain, in the 
service of the East India Company of England." 

When making another excursion, through the valley, the 
confined tourist determined to snatch a probable amusement, 
by paying a visit to a farmer. Fortunately for Napoleon, the 
family were taken by surprise ; as the apprehension of receiv- 
ing such a guest, would have emptied the house of its inhab- 
itants. The tenant of the mansion, named Legg, a plain hon- 
est countryman, met him at the door ; when the extraordinary 
visiter, on the invitation given to him, dismounted from his 
horse, and, accompanied by the count de las Cases, entered 
the house, famiharly took his seat, and began his interroga- 
tories : — 

" Have you a wife ?" 

" Yes, an't please you, sir emperor." 

" Have you any children ?" 

« Six." 

*' How much land have you got ?" 

" A hundred acres." 

" All capable of being cultivated ?" 

" No ; not one half" 

*' What profit does it bring you ?" 

" Not a great deal : but it is much improved, since you, 
Mr, Emperor, came amongst us." 



NAPOLEON. 241 

" Ay ! how do you make that out ?" 

" Why, you must know, sir emperor, we do not raise grain 
in this here island ; and our green truck requires a ready 
market. We have mostly had to wait for the arrival of a 
fleet ; and then, rat 'em, our things would sometimes all spoil : 
but now, sir general, we have a prime sale for every article." 

" Where is your wife ?" 

" Dang it, an't please you, I believe she is scared ; for I see 
my children have all run out !" 

" Send for them, and let me be introduced. Pray, have you 
any good water ?" 

" Yes, sir ; and wine too, such as is to be had from the 
Cape." 

Tlie good woman's alarm had, by this time, subsided ; she 
was persuaded, by her husband, to make her appearance, and 
entered Avith every mark of respect, and some astonishment. 
Napoleon, Las Cases, the farmer, and his wife, sat down to 
four glasses of Cape wine ; and when they were emptied, the 
visit was concluded. 

The honest farmer and his family had been placed so much 
at their ease, by the courteous demeanour of their unexpected 
guests, that the subsequent visits laid them under no restraint; 
and even the little children used frequently to express their 
wishes, by inquiring of their mother, " When will Boney come 
and see us again ?" 

■tn-ir' On the fourteenth of April, the Phaeton frigate, com- 
manded by captain Stanfell, arrived from England ; hav- 
ing on board lieutenant-general sir Hudson Lowe, and lady 
Lowe ; sir Thomas Read, deputy adjutant general ; major 
Gorrequer, aid-de-camp to sir Hudson Lowe ; lieutenant 
colonel Lyster, inspector of militia ; major Emmett, of the 
engineers ; Mr. Baxter, deputy inspector of hospitals ; to- 
gether with lieutenants Wortham and Jackson, of the engineers 
and staff corps ; and other officers in the employment of the 
British government. 

On the following day, sir Hudson Lov/e landed, and was 
installed as governor, with the customary forms. A message 
was then sent to Longwood, announcing that the new governor 
would visit Napoleon, at nine o'clock, on the succeeding morn- 
ing. A little before that time, sir Hudson Lowe arrived, ac- 
companied by sir George Cockburn, and a numerous staff. 
As the appointed hour was rather unseasonable, and one at 
which Napoleon had never received any person, intimation was 
given to the governor, that Napoleon was indisposed, and could 

X 



242 THE LIFE OF 

not see any visitors, that morning. This appeared to discon- 
cert sir Hudson ; who, after pacing up and down, for a few 
minutes, before the windows of the drawing-room, demanded 
at what time, on the following day, he could be introduced. 
Two o'clock was appointed, for the interview ; at which time, 
he arrived, accompanied, as before, by the admiral, and fol- 
lowed by his staff. They were, at first, ushered into the dining- 
room, behind which was the saloon, where they were to be re- 
ceived. A proposition was made, by sir George Cockburn, to 
sir Hudson Lowe, that the latter should be introduced by him, 
as being, in his opinion, the most official and proper manner 
of resigning to him the charge of the prisoner ; for which pur- 
pose, sir George suggested that they should enter the room 
together. To this arrangement, sir Hudson Lowe acceded. 
At the door of the drawing-room, stood Novarri, one of the 
French valets, whose business it was to announce the names 
of the persons introduced. After waiting a few minutes, the 
door was opened, and the governor called. As soon as the 
word governor was announced, sir Hudson Lowe started up, 
and stepped forward so hastily, that he entered the room be- 
fore sir George Cockburn was well aware of his departure. 
The door was then closed, and when the admiral presented 
himself, the valet, not having heard his name called, told him 
that he could not enter. Sir Hudson Lowe remained about a 
quarter of an hour with Napoleon, during which time, the con- 
versation was carried on chiefly in Italian ; and subsequently 
the officers of his staff were introduced.^ 

A few days afterwards. Dr. O'Meara brought to Longwood 
some newspapers, which had been sent to him by admiral 
Cockburn. Napoleon said he believed that sir George had 
been rather ill-treated, the day on which he came up with the 
new governor ; and inquired what observation the admiral had 
made. His physician replied, that he considered it an insult 
offered to him, and felt much offended. Napoleon said, " He 
should have sent me word that he wanted to see me, by Ber- 
trand ; but," continued he, " he wished to embroil me with 
the new governor ; and, for that purpose, persuaded him to 
come up here at nine o'clock in the morning, though he well 
knew that I never had received any person, and never would, 
at that hour. It is a pity that a man who appears to have 
talents, for I believe him to be a very good officer in his own 
service, should have behaved in the manner he has done to 
me. It shows the greatest want of generosity, to insult the 
unfortunate ; because insulting those who are in your power. 



NAPOLEON. 245 

and consequently cannot make any opposition, is a certain 
sign of an ignoble mind." Dr. O'Meara said, that he was 
convinced the whole was a mistake, and that the admiral never 
had the smallest intention of insulting or embroiling him with 
the governor. The emperor resumed : — " In my misfortune, 
I sought an asylum, and instead of that have found contempt, 
ill-treatment, and insult. Shortly after I went on board of his 
ship, as I did not wish to sit after dinner, for two or three 
hours, guzzling down wine, to make myself drunk, I got up 
from table, and walked out upon deck. While I was going 
out, he said, in a contemptuous manner, " I believe the general 
has never read lord Chesterfield ; meaning that I was deficient 
in politeness, and did not know how to conduct myself at 
table." 

The emperor and Las Cases were walking one afternoon in 
the garden, when a sailor, about twenty-three years of age, 
with a frank and open countenance, approached them, with 
gestures expressive of eagerness and joy, mingled with appre- 
hension of being perceived from without. He spoke nothing 
but English, and told Las Cases, in a hurried manner, that he 
had twice braved the obstacle of sentinels, and all the dangers 
of severe prohibition, to get a close view of the emperor. He 
had obtained this good fortune, he said — looking stedfastly at 
Napoleon — and should die content; that he offered up his 
prayers to Heaven, that Napoleon might enjoy good health, 
and be one day" more happy. Las Cases dismissed him ; but 
on quitting them he hid himself amongst the trees and hedges, 
in order to have a longer view of them. 

Napoleon frequently met similar unequivocal proofs of the 
good-will of the English sailors. Those of the Northumber- 
land, especially, considered themselves as having formed a con- 
nexion with him. While he resided at the Briars, where his 
seclusion was not so close, they often hovered, on a Sunday, 
around the place, saying that they came to take another look 
at their shipmate. The day on which he removed from the 
Briars, Las Cases was with the emperor, in the garden ; when 
one of the sailors presented himself at the gate, and asked 
the former if he might step in, without offence. Las Cases 
inquired, of what country he was, and what religion he pro- 
fessed. He answered, by making various signs of the cross, 
in token of his having understood him, and of fraternity. Then,, 
looking stedfastly at the emperor, before whom he was then 
standing, and raising his eyes to heaven, he began to hold a 
conversation with himself, by gestures, which his stout jovial 



244 THE LIFE OF 

figure rendered partly grotesque and partly sentimental. Yet 
it would have been difficult to express more naturally, admi- 
ration, respect, sympathy, and kind wishes ; while big tears 
started in his eyes. — " Tell that dear man," said he, " that I 
wish him no harm, but all possible happiness. So, do most 
of us. Long life and health to him!" — He had a nosegay of 
wild flowers in his hand, which he seemed desirous to offer 
them ; but he appeared restrained by the emperor's presence, or 
his own feelings, and he stood wavering, as if contending with 
himself, for some time ; then suddenly made a bow, and disap- 
peared. 

The emperor could not refrain from evincing some emotion 
at these two circumstances, so strongly did the countenances, 
accents, and gestures, of the two men, bear the stamp of truth. 

" About four o'clock, in the morning of the tenth of Jan- 
uary," says Las Cases, " the emperor desired that I should be 
called into his room. He was dressed, and had his boots on; 
his intention being either to get on horseback, or take a walk 
in the garden ; but a gentle shower of rain was falling. We 
walked about, in conversation, waiting for the weather to clear 
up. He opened the door of his room, leading to the topo- 
graphical cabinet, in order that we might extend our walk the 
whole length of this chamber. As we approached the bed, 
he asked me if I always slept in it. I answered, that I had 
ceased to sleep in it, since the moment that I became ac- 
quainted with his wish of going out early in the morning* 
' What has that to do with it?' said he: 'return to it; I shall 
go out, when I please, by the back door.' The drawing-room 
stood half open, and he entered it : Montholon and Gourgaud 
were there. They were endeavouring to fix a very pretty 
lustre, and a small glass, over the chimney-piece. The em- 
peror desired that the latter might be set straight, as it inclined 
a little on one side. He was much pleased at this improve- 
ment in the drawing-room furniture ; a proof that every thing 
is relative I What could these objects be, in the eyes of a man, 
who, only a few months before, had, in his palaces, furniture 
to the value of forty-millions!" 

The emperor had, for several days, left off his excursions on 
horseback. The result of his attempt to resume them, was 
calculated neither to revive his partiality for this amusement, 
nor to render it again habitual to him. He had descended 
into the valley as usual, and was reascending it, at the back 
part, opposite Longwood, when a soldier, from one of the 
heights, where there had hitherto been no post, called out 



NAPOLEON. 245 

several times, and made various signs to him and his compan- 
ions. As they were in the very centre of their circuit, they 
paid no atttention to him ; upon which, he hurried down to- 
wards them, charging his musket, as he ran. General Gour- 
gaud remained behind, to see what the pursuer wanted, while 
the rest of the party continued their route. After dodging 
the fellow many times, the general collared him, and for some 
time held him fast, but he at length escaped. It was found that 
he was a drunken corporal, who had not rightly understood the 
countersign. He had frequently levelled his musket at the 
imperial party ; a circumstance which made his followers 
tremble for the emperor's life. Napoleon, however, looked 
upon it only as an affront, and a fresh obstacle to the con- 
tinuance of his exercises on horseback. 

On the twenty-fourth of April, colonel and Miss Wilkes,, 
then preparing to return to England, went up to Longwood^ 
and had a long interview with Napoleon. He was greatly 
pleased with Miss Wilkes, a highly accomplished and elegant 
young lady ; and gallantly told her, that " she surpassed the 
description which had been given to him of her." 

In the beginning of May, the weather was extremely wet 
and foggy, with high winds, for several days ; during which 
time, Napoleon did not go out of doors. 

Many changes relative to the treatment of the French, were 
made, shortly after the arrival of sir Hudson Lowe. The 
boundaries within which they had been allowed to exercise, 
were curtailed ; the shop-keepers were ordered not to sell any 
article to them, except for ready money ; and to hold no com- 
munication with them, unless by the governor's permission^ 
Several officers of the fifty-third regiment, who were in the 
habit of calling to see madame Bertrand, at Hut's Gate, re- 
ceived hints that their visits were not pleasing to the authorities 
lately arrived ; the officer of the guard was ordered to report 
the names of all persons entering Bertrand's house ; and sen- 
tinels were placed, in different directions, to prevent the ap- 
proach of visiters, several of whom, including some ladies, were 
turned back. 

Messengers and letters continually arrived at Longwood, 
from Plantation House* The governor was apparently very 
anxious to see Napoleon, and seemingly distrustful, although 
the officer at Longwood was assured of his actual presence, 
by the sound of his voice. He had some communication with 
Bertrand, in relation to the necessity which he said there was, 
that some of his officeFS should see Napoleon daily. He also 

X2 



246 THE LIFE OF 

went to Longwood frequently, himself, and finally, after some 
difficulty, obtained an interview with him, in his bed-chamber, 
which lasted about a quarter of an hour. Some days before, 
he had sent for Dr. O'Meara, asked a variety of questions con- 
cerning the captive, walked round the house several times, and 
before the windows, measuring and laying out the plan of a 
new ditch, which he said he would order to be made, to pre- 
vent the trespass of cattle. He observed a tree, the branches 
of which considerably overhung one of the old ditches. This 
appeared to excite considerable alarm in his excellency's 
breast, as he sent instantly for the superintendent of the gar- 
dens, to have it lopped. 

" On the fifth of May," says Dr. O'Meara, " Napoleon sent 
Marchand for me, about nine o'clock. I was introduced, by 
the back door, into his bed-room, a description of which I 
shall endeavour to give, as minutely and correctly as possible. 
It was about fourteen feet long, and twelve broad ; and ten 
or eleven feet high. The walls were lined with brown nan- 
keen, bordered and edged with common green paper. Two 
small windows, without pulleys, looked towards the camp of 
the fifty-third regiment, one of which was thrown up, and fas- 
tened by a piece of notched wood. The window-curtains were 
of white long-cloth ; there was a small fire-place, a shabby 
grate, and fire-irons to match, with a paltry mantle-piece of 
wood, painted white, on which stood a small marble bust of 
his son. Above the mantle-piece, hung the portrait of Maria 
Louisa, and four or five of young Napoleon, one of which was 
embroidered by the hands of his mother. A little more to the 
right, hung also a miniature picture of the empress Josephine 5 
and to the left was suspended the alarm chamber-watch of 
Frederick the Great, obtained, by Napoleon, at Potsdam ; 
while, in another place, the consular watch, engraved with the 
cypher B, hung by a chain of the plaited hair of Maria Louisa, 
from a pin stuck in the nankeen lining. The floor was cov- 
ered with a second-hand carpet,- which had once decorated the 
dining-room of a lieutenant of the St. Helena artillery. In the 
right-hand corner, was placed the little, plain, iron camp bed- 
stead, with green silk curtains ; upon which, its master had re- 
posed on the fields of Marengo and Austerlitz. Between the 
windows, there was a paltry second-hand chest of drawers ; 
and an old book-case, with green blinds, stood on the left of 
the door, leading to the next apartment. Four or five cane- 
bottomed chairs, painted green, were standing here and there^ 
about the room. Before the back door, there was a screen^ 



NAPOLEON. 247 

covered with nankeen ; and, between that and the fire-place, 
an old-fashioned sofa, covered with white long-cloth ; upon 
which, recUned Napoleon, in his morning dress. His air was 
melancholy and troubled. Before him, stood a little round 
table, with some books ; at the foot of which, lay, in confusion, 
on the carpet, a heap of volumes, which he had already perused; 
and at the foot of the sofa, facing him, was suspended a por- 
trait of Maria Louisa, with her son in her arms. In front of 
the fire-place, stood Las Cases, with his arms folded over his 
breast, and some papers in one of his hands . Of all the former 
magnificence, of the once mighty emperor of France, nothing 
was present except a superb wash-hand-stand, containing a 
silver basin, and a water-jug of the same material, in the left- 
hand corner." 

"I understand," said Napoleon, " that sir Hudson Lowe 
proposes that an officer should enter my chamber, to see me, 
if I did not stir out. Any person," continued he, with much 
emotion, " who endeavours to force his way into my a])artment, 
shall be a corpse, the moment he enters. If ever he eats bread 
or meat again, I am not Napoleon. On this, I am determined, 
though I know I shall be killed afterwards, as what can one 
man do against a camp ? I have faced death too many times, 
to fear it. Besides, I am convinced that this governor has been 
sent out by lord Castlereagh. I told him, a few days ago, 
that, if he wanted to put an end to me, he would have a very 
good opportunity, by sending somebody to force his way into 
my chamber, that I would instantly make a corpse of the first 
that entered, and then I should be, of course, despatched, and 
he might write home, that ' Buonaparte'' had been killed in a 
brawl. I told him to leave me alone, and not to torment me 
with his hateful presence. I have seen Prussians, Tartars, 
Cossacks, and Calmucks, but never before, in my life, have I 
beheld so ill-favoured and forbidding a countenance. He has 
the devil stamped upon his face. 

" During the short interview that this governor had with me," 
continued Napoleon, " in my bed-chamber, one of his first pro- 
posals was, to send you away, and to take his own surgeon in 
your place. This, he repeated twice ; and, so earnest was he 
to gain his object, that, although I gave him a decided refusal, 
when he was going out he turned round, and proposed it again. 
I never saw so horrid a countenance. He sat on a chair, op- 
posite to my sof^i ; and, on the little table between us, there 
was a cup of coffee. His physiognomy made so unfavourable 
an impression on me, that I thought his looks had poisoned it» 



248 THE LIFE OF 

and I ordered Marchand to throw it out of the window : — I 
could not have swallowed it for the world." 

On the seventeenth, Napoleon was in very good spirits. He 
demanded what the news was, and was told that the ladies he 
had received, a few days before, were highly delighted with his 
manners ; especially, as, from what they had read and heard, 
they had been prepossessed with opinions of a very different 
kind. " Ah," said he, laughing, " I suppose they imagined I 
was some ferocious horned animal." 

He asked his physician, if he had not had a very large party, 
to dinner, on the preceding day. Mr. O'Meara rephed, " a 
few." — " How many of you were drunk ?" he inquired. The 
doctor replied " none." — " Bah, bah, what none ? Why, they 
could not have done any honour to your entertainment. Was 
not captain Ross a little gay ?" — The reply was, " Captain 
Ross is always gay." — Napoleon laughed at this, and said, 
" Ross is a very fine fellow ; and the ship's-company are very 
happy in having such a captain." 

Napoleon was told that news had reached the island that 
the queen of Portugal was dead, and also that a French frigate 
had arrived, at Rio- Janeiro, to demand one of the king's 
daughters in marriage for the duke of Berri. " The queen," 
said he, " has been mad for a long time, and the daughters 
are all ugly." 

On the seventh of June, Dr. O'Meara breakfasted with 
Napoleon, in the garden. The doctor had a long medical ar- 
gument with him ; in which, he maintained that Ids practice, 
in case of malady — that is, to eat nothing, drink plenty of 
barley-water, and no wine, and ride for seven or eight leagues,, 
to promote perspiration — was much better than the doctor's. 

The conversation afterwards turned upon the manner of 
living in France and England. — " Which eats the most," said 
he, " the Frenchman or the Englishman ?" — Dr. O'Meara 
said, "I think the Frenchman." — "I don't believe it,"" said 
Napoleon.- — The doctor rephed, that the French, though they 
nominally make but two meals a day, really have four. — 
" Only two," said Napoleon. — The other replied, " They take 
something at nine in the morning, and at eleven ; at four and 
at seven or eight in the evening." — " I," rejoined Napoleon, 
" never eat more than twice a day : you English always eat 
four or five times. Your cookery is more healthy than ours. 
Your soup is, however, very bad ; nothing but bread, pepper, 
and water. You drink an enormous quantity of wine. Piont- 
kowsky, who dines sometimes in camp, with the officers of the 



NAPOLEON. 249 

fifty-third, says that tliey drink by the hour; that, after the 
cloth is removed, they pay so much ar> hour, drink as much 
as they like, and sometimes sit until four or five o'clock in the 
morning." — O'Meara replied, " So far from the truth, is this, 
that some of the oflScers do not drink wine more than twice a 
week ; and that on days when they are permitted to invite 
strangers. There is a third of a bottle put upon the table, for 
each member that drinks wine ; and when that is exhausted, 
another third is put on, and so on ; members paying only in 
proportion to what they drink." — The emperor appeared sur- 
prised at this explanation ; and observed how easily a stranger, 
having only an imperfect knowledge of the language, was led 
to give a wrong interpretation to the customs and actions of 
other nations. 

On the seventeenth of June, three commissioners arrived, 
in the Newcastle frigate, from England: — count Balmaire, 
for Russia ; baron Sturmer, for Austria, accompanied by the 
baroness, his wife ; marquis Montchenu, for France, with his 
aidrde-camp, captain Gor. 

Several cases of books, which had been ordered, by Ber- 
trand, when at Madeira, and brought out in the Newcastle, by 
sir Pulteney Malconi, were sent to Longwood. Dr. O'Meara 
found Napoleon in his bed-chamber, surrounded by heaps of 
books ; his countenance was smiling, and he was in perfect 
good-humour. He had been occupied in reading, nearly all 
the preceding night. "Ah," said he, pointing to some volumes 
which he had thrown upon the floor, according to his custom, 
after having read them, " what a pleasure I have enjoyed. 
What a difference! I can read forty pages of French, in the 
time that 1 would comprehend two in English." — His anxiety 
to see them was so great, that he had laboured hard himself, 
with a hammer and chisel, in opening the case that contained 
them. 

Early in the ensuing month, sir Pulteney and lady Malcom 
had an interview of nearly two hours, with Napoleon ; who 
was much pleased with both. 

On the sixteenth of August, there arrived at Longwood one 
of Leslie's pneumatic machines for making ice. Napoleon 
asked several questions about the process ; and it was evident 
that he was well acquainted with the principles upon which 
air-pumps are formed. He expressed great admiration for the 
science of chemistry, spoke of the great improvements lately 
made in it, and observed that he had always promoted and en- 
couraged it, to the best of his power. A cup full of water 



250 THE LIFE OF 

was frozen in about fifteen minutes; and he waited upwards 
of half an hour, to see if the same quantity of lemonade would 
freeze ; but it did not succeed. Milk was then tried, but with 
rib better success. Napoleon took in his hand the piece of 
ice, produced from the water, and observed what a gratifica- 
tion that would have been in Egypt. The first ice ever seen in 
St. Helena, was made by this machine, and was viewed with 
no sniall degree of surprise by the yam-stocks — a cant name 
by which the natives of the island are known ; some of whom 
could with diflSculty be persuaded, that the solid lump in their 
hands was really composed of water, until they had witnessed 
its return to a fluid state. 

A few days afterwards, sir Hudson Lowe paid a visit to Na- 
poleon. He saw his captive walking in the garden; other- 
wise, in consequence of the ungentleraanhke and severe man- 
ner in which h^ had treated Napoleon, he would not have 
been admitted to his presence. He wished to enter into some 
details about reducing the expenses of the establishment at 
Longwood. He had the audacity to tell Napoleon, that things 
were, then, just as he had found them, and that he came up to 
justify himself, and said that he had been there twice or three 
times before, but that Napoleon was in a bath. The emperor 
replied, " No, sir, I was not in a bath, but I ordered one, on 
purpose to avoid seeing you. In endeavouring to justify your- 
self, you make matters worse." — Sir Hudson said, that Na- 
poleon did not know him ; that, if he knew him, he would 
change his mind. — "Know you, sir?" Napoleon answered^ 
" How could I know you ? People make themselves known by 
their actions; by commanding in battles. You have never 
commanded in battle. You have never commanded any but 
vagabond Corsican deserters, Piedmontese, and Neapolitan 
brigands. I know the name of every English general who 
has distinguished himself; but I never heard of you, except as 
a scrivano (a clerk) to Blucher,or as a commandant of brig- 
ands. You have never commanded, or been accustomed to 
men of honour." — The governor said that he had not sought 
for the employment. Napoleon told him that such employ- 
ments were not solicited ; that they were given, by govern- 
ments, to people who had dishonoured themselves, but that he 
did not think that any government would be so mean, as to 
give such orders as he caused to be executed ; that he would 
go over and dine with the brave officers of the fifty-third ; that 
he was sure there was not one of them who would not be 
happy to give a plate at the table, to an old soldier. " You 



NAPOLEON. 261 

have power over my body," continued Napoleon, " but none 
over my soul. That soul is as proud, fierce, and determined, 
at the present moment, as when it commanded Europe : you 
are a shirro Siciliano (a Sicilian bravo) and not an Enghsh- 
man : let me not see you again, until you come with orders to 
despatch me, when you will find all the doors thrown open to 
receive you." 

On the twenty-seventh, Napoleon inquired if the French 
commissioners and madame Sturmer had not had a quarrel. 
He was informed that Montchenu had said, that madame 
Sturmer did not know how to come into a drawing-room. 
Napoleon laughed at this : " I will venture to say," said he, 
*' that the old booby says so because she is not sprung from 
some of those imbeciles, the old noblesse ; because her father 
is a plebeian. These old emigrants hate and are jealous of all 
that are not hereditary asses, like themselves. — To give an in- 
stance of the general feehng in France, towards the Bourbons," 
continued Napoleon, " I will relate to you an anecdote. On 
my return from Italy, while my carriage was ascending the 
steep hill of Tarare, I alighted, and walked up, without any 
attendants, as was often my custom. My wife and my suite 
were at a little distance behind me. I saw an old woman, 
lame, and hobbling about with the help of a crutch, endeavour- 
ing to ascend the mountain. I had a great coat on, and was 
not recognized. I went up to her, and said, ' Well, ma bonne, 
where are you going with a haste which so little belongs to 
your years ? What is the matter?' — ' Ma foi,'' replied the old 
dame, ' they tell me the emperor is here, and I want to see 
him, before I die.' ' Bah, bah,' said I, ' what do you want to 
see him for ? What have you gained by him ? he is a tyrant, 
as well as the others. You have only changed one tyrant for 
another.' — ^Mais monsieur, that may be ; but, after all, he 
is the king o^ Xhe people, and the Bourbons were the kings 
of the nobles. We have chosen him, and if we are to have 
a tyrant, let him be one chosen by ourselves.' — There," said 
Napoleon, "you have the sentiments of the French nation, ex- 
pressed by an old woman." 

Napoleon showed Mr. O'Meara the marks of two wounds ; 
one, a very deep cicatrice, above the left knee, which he said 
he had received in his first campaign of Italy, and was of so 
serious a nature, that the surgeons were in doubt whether it 
might not be ultimately necessary to amputate. He observed, 
that when he was wounded, it was always kept a secret, in 
order not to discourage the soldiers. The other was on the 



S52 THE LIFE OF 

toe, and had been received at Eckmuhl. " At the siege of 
Acre," continued he, " a shell, thrown by sir Sydney Smith, 
fell at my feet. Two soldiers seized and embraced me, one 
in front, and the other on one side, and made a rampart of 
their bodies for me, against the effect of the shell, which ex- 
ploded, and overwhelmed us with sand. We sunk into the 
hole, formed by its bursting ; one of the men was wounded. I 
made them both officers. One has since lost a leg at Moscow, 
and commanded at Vincennes, when I left Paris. When sum- 
moned by the Russians, he replied, that as soon as they sent 
him back the leg which he had lost at Moscow, he would 
surrender the fortress. — Many times in my life," he resumed, 
" have I been saved, by officers and soldiers throwing them- 
selves before me, when I was in the most imminent danger. 
At Areola, when I was advancing, colonel Meuron, my aid- 
de-camp, threw himself before me, covered me with his body, 
and received the wound destined for me. He fell at my feet, 
and his blood spouted up in my face. He gave his life to pre- 
serve mine. Never yet, I believe, has there been such devo- 
tion shown by soldiers, as mine have manifested for me. In 
all my misfortunes, never has the soldier, even when expiring, 
forgotten me — never has man been served more faithfully by 
his troops. With the last drop of blood gushing out of their 
veins, they exclaimed, Vive VEmpereur.^'^ 

" During the war with you," he continued, " all the intelli- 
gence I received from England, came through the smugglers. 
They are terrible people, and have courage and ability to do 
any thing for money. They had, at first, a part of Dunkirk 
allotted to them, to which they were restricted; but, as they 
latterly went out of their limits, committed riots, and insulted 
every one, I ordered Gravelines to be prepared for their re- 
ception, where they had a little camp for their accommodation, 
beyond which they w^ere not permitted to go. At one time, 
there were more than five-hundred of them in Dunkirk. I 
had every information that I wanted through them. They 
brought over newspapers and despatches, from the spies that 
I had in London. They took over spies from France, landed 
and kept them in their houses for some days, then dispersed 
them over the country, and brought them back, when wanted. 
The police had in pay a number of French emigrants, who 
gave constant information of the acts of the Vendean party, 
Georges and others, at the time they were preparing to assas- 
sinate me. All their movements were made known. Besides, 
the police had in pay many EngUsh spies, many of hi^h quality; 



NAPOLEON. 253 

amongst whom, were several ladies. There was one lady, in 
particular, of very high rank, who furnished considerable infor- 
mation, and was sometimes paid as high as three-thousand dol- 
lars in one month. The spies came over," continued ho, " in 
boats not larger than this bath. It was really astonisiiing, to 
see them passing your seventy-four gun ships, in defiance. 
They are terrible people, and did great mischief to the En- 
glish government. They took from France, annually, forty or 
fifty millions' worth of silks and brandy. They assisted the 
French prisoners to escape from England. The relations of 
Frenchmen, prisoners in your country, were accustomed to go 
to Dunkirk, and bargain with them to bring over a certain 
prisoner. All that they wanted was the name and age, and a 
private token, by means of which the prisoner might repose 
confidence in them. Generally, in a short time afterwards, 
they executed their commission ; as, for men like them, they 
had a great deal of honour in their dealings. They offered, 
several times, to bring over Louis and the other Bourbons, for 
a sum of money ; but, they wanted to stipulate, that, if they 
met with any accident, or interruption to their designs, they 
might be allowed to kill them. To this, I would not consent. 
They also offered to bring over Dumourier, Sarazin, and others, 
whom they thought I hated ; but I held them in too much con- 
tempt, to take any trouble about them." 

On the twenty-third of November, the emperor was deprived 
of the society of one of the most devoted of his companions in 
exile. It appears, that count Las Cases had given a letter, 
written upon silk, to Scott, his servant, with which he was to 
proceed to England. Scott told this to his father ; in conse- 
quence of which information, he was carried before the gov- 
ernor, by whom he was committed to prison. The governor 
ordered Las Cases to dismiss his servant, and accept of another, 
chosen by himself; with which injunction, Las Cases would 
not comply. His journal and papers, except a few of no im- 
portance, were accordingly seized, and on the twenty-ninth 
of December, he and his son were embarked on board the 
Griffon sloop of war, for the Cape of Good Hope ; Las Cases 
having previously assigned four-thousand pounds (which he 
had deposited with a banker in London) for Napoleon's use. 

Las Cases was one of the ancient nobility of France, and 
amonjrst the earliest who emigrated after the commencement 
of the revolution. He sought refuge in England. On entering 
London, he had only three louis in his pocket ; but, like the 
majority of his countrymen, he soon applied himself to a means 

Y 



254 THE LIFE OF 

of gaining a support : being an accomplished scholar, he com- 
menced the profession of teacher, wrote and published, under 
the name of Le Sage, a geography and atlas, which obtained a 
very high repute ; and, when the directory was succeeded by the 
consular government, he returned to his native country, with 
a sum of money which insured him an independence, and at- 
tached himself, with ardour and fidelity, to the fortunes of 
Napoleon. 
*nirr Thc first iucidcut that we think worthy of recording, 
in the present year, is rather of a ludicrous kind. On 
the twelfth of January, when Napoleon was rising from table, 
and in the act of taking his hat ofi' the sideboard, a large rat 
sprung out of it, and ran between his legs. 

On the twenty-seventh, his physician informed Napoleon, that 
he had received a book, containing an account of a society 
named " Philadelphi," which had been formed against him, 
and expressed his surprise that he had never fallen by the 
hands of some conspirators. The emperor rephed, " No person 
knew, five minutes before I put it into execution, that I in- 
tended to go out, or whither I would go. The conspirators 
were thus baffled, as they knew not w[iere to lay the scene of 
their enterprise. Shortly after I was made consul, there was 
a conspiracy formed against me, by about fifty persons ; the 
greater number of whom had once been much attached to me, 
and consisted of officers of the army, men of science, painters, 
and sculptors. They were all stern republicans ; their minds 
were heated ; each fancied himself a Brutus, and me a Caesar. 
Amongst them, was Arena, a countryman of mine, a man who 
had been much attached to me before, but, thinking me a 
tyrant, he determined to get rid of me, imagining, that, by so 
doing, he should render a service to France. There was also 
one Ceracchi, another Corsica n, and a famous sculptor, who, 
when I was at Milan, had made a statue of me. He, too, 
had been greatly attached to me ; but, being a fanatical repub- 
lican, he determined to kill me ; for which purpose, he came 
to Paris, and begged to have the honour of making another 
statue for me, alleging that the first was not sufficiently well 
executed, for so great a man. Though I then knew nothing 
of the conspiracy, I refused my consent ; as I did not like the 
trouble of sitting two or three hours, in the same posture, for 
some days, especially as I had sat before, to the same artist. 
This saved my life; his intention beinir to poniard me, while I 
was sitting. In the mean time, they had arranged their plans. 
Amongst them, was a captain, who had been a great admirer 



NAPOLEON. 255 

of me. This man agreed with the rest, that it was necessary 
to overturn the tyrant ; but he would not consent that I should 
be killed, though he strenuously joined in every thing else. 
All the others, however, differed with him in opinion, and in- 
sisted that it was absolutely necessary to despatch me, as the 
only means of preventing France from being enslaved ; that 
while I lived, there would be no chance of freedom. This 
captain, finding that they were determined to shed my blood, 
gave information of their names and plans. They were to as- 
sassinate me on the first night that I went to the theatre, in 
the passage, as I was returning. Every thing was arranged 
with the police ; I went the same evening to the theatre, and 
actually passed through the conspirators ; some of whom I 
personally knew : they were armed with poniards under their 
cloaks. Shortly after my arrival, the police seized them all. 
They were searched, and the poniards found upon them, were 
afterwards tried and some of them executed." 

Napoleon then related the particulars of the attempt to de- 
stroy him by the infernal machine, and also to assassinate him 
at Schoenbrun ; incidents which we have already noticed, in 
the order of time in which they occurred. 

"Another time," proceeded the emperor, "a letter was 
sent to me, by the king of Saxony, containing information that 
a person was to leave Stutgard, on a certain day, for Paris; 
where he would probably arrive on a day that was pointed out, 
and slating that his intention was to murder me. A minute 
description of his person, was also given. The police arranged 
their plans, and on the appointed day, he arrived. They had 
him watched. He was seen to enter my chapel, to which I 
had gone, on the celebration of some festival. He was arrested, 
and examined. He confessed his intention, and said, that 
when the people knelt down, on^ the elevation of the host, he 
saw me gazing at the fine women : at first, he intended to ad- 
vance, and fire at me (in fact, he had approached near to me, 
at the moment); but, on a little reflection, he thought that 
would not be sure enough, and he determined to stab me, with 
a knife, which he had brought with him, for that purpose. I 
did not like to have him executed, and ordered that he should 
be kept in prison. When I was no longer at the head of 
affairs, this man, who had been imprisoned for seven months 
after I left Paris, and ill-treated, I believe, got his liberty. 
Soon afterwards, he said that he no longer harboured the design 
of killing me, but that he would murder the king of Prussia, 
for having ill-treated the Saxons. On my return from Elba^ 



256 THE LIFE OF 

I was to be present at the opening of the legislative body, which 
was to be done with great state and ceremony. When I went to 
open the chamber, this same man accidentally fell down ; and 
a parcel, containing some chemical preparation, exploded, in 
his pocket, and wounded him severely. It never has been 
clearly ascertained, what his intentions were, at this time. The 
occurrence caused great alarm, amongst the legislative body : 
he was arrested ; and I have since learned that he threw him- 
self into the Seine." 

On the sixteenth of March, Napoleon spoke at length, about 
Talleyrand. " The triumph of Talleyrand," said he, " is the 
triumph of immorality. In him, we behold a priest, united to 
another man's wife ; having paid her husband a large sum of 
money, to leave her with him ; — a man who has sold every 
thing, betrayed every body, and every side. I forbade madame 
Talleyrand the court ; first, because she was a disreputable 
character, and also because I discovered that some Genoese 
merchants had paid her four-hundred-thousand francs, in order 
to gain some commercial favours, by means of her husband. She 
was a very fine-looking woman, Enghsh or East Indian, but sotte, 
and grossly ignorant. I sometimes asked Denon to breakfast 
with me, as I took a pleasure in his conversation, and conversed 
very freely with him. All the intriguers and speculators paid 
their respects to Denon, with a view of inducing him to men- 
tion their projects or themselves to me, supposing that even 
being mentioned by such a man as Denon, for whom I had a 
great esteem, might materially serve them. Talleyrand, who 
was a great speculator, invited Denon to dinner. When he 
went home to his wife, he said, ' My dear, I have invited Denon 
to dine. He is a great traveller, and you must say something 
handsome to him, about his travels, as he may be useful to us, 
with the emperor.' His wife, having perhaps never read any 
other book of travels, than that of Robinson Crusoe, concluded 
that Denon could be nobody else than Robinson. Wishing 
to be very civil to him, she asked him, before a large com- 
pany, divers questions about his man Friday ! Denon, aston- 
ished, did not know what to think, at first, but at length dis- 
covered, by her inquiries, that she really supposed him to be 
Robinson Crusoe. His astonishment, and that of the company, 
cannot be described ; nor the peals of laughter which it ex- 
cited in Paris, as the story flew like wildfire through the city, 
and even Talleyrand himself was ashamed of it." 

" It has been said," continued he, "that I turned Mahom- 
etan, in Egypt. It is not true. I never followed any of the 



NAPOLEON. 25T 

tenets of that religion: I never prayed in the mosques: I 
never abstained from wine, or was circumcised ; neither did I 
profess it. I said merely that we were the friends of the 
Mussulmans, and that I respected Mahon)et, their prophet ; 
which was true. I respect him now. I wanted to induce the 
Imans to cause prayers to be offered up in the mosques, for 
me ; in order to make the people respect me still more than 
they actually did, and obey me more readily. The Imans re- 
plied, that there was a great obstacle, because their prophet 
had inculcated to them, in the Koran, that they were not to 
obey, respect, or hold faith with infidels; and that I came 
under that denomination. I then desired them to hold a con- 
sultation, and see what was necessary to be done, in order to 
become a Mussulman, as some of their tenets could not be 
practised by us : that, as to circumcision, God had made us 
unfit for that : that, with respect to drinking wine, we were 
poor cold people, inhabitants of the north, who could not exist 
without it ; therefore, that we could neither circumcise, nor ab- 
stain from wine. They accordingly consulted together, and 
in about three weeks, issued a Fetham, declaring that circum- 
cision might be omitted, because it was merely a profession ^ 
that, as to drinking wine, it might be drunk by Mussulmans, 
but, that those who drank it, would not go to paradise, but to 
hell. I rephed, that this would not do ; that we had no occa- 
sion to make ourselves Mahometans, in order to go to hell; 
that there were many ways of getting there, without coming^ 
to Egypt ; and desired them to hold another consultation. 
Well, after deliberating and battling together, for I believe 
three months, they finally decided that a man might become a 
Mussulman, and neither circumcise nor abstain from wine ; 
but, that in proportion to the wine drunk, he must do some 
good works. I then told him, that we were all Mussulmans, 
and friends of the prophet; which they readily believed, as the 
French soldiers never went to church, and had no priest with 
them. During the revolution, there was no religion at all, in 
the French army. Menou," continued Napoleon, " really 
turned Mahometan, which was the reason that I left him be- 
hind." 

At a subsequent time, speaking of the royal family of France, 
" These Bourbons," said Napoleon, " are the most timorous 
race imaginable : put them in fear, and you may obtain any 
thing. While I was at Elba, an actress, named mademoiselle 
Racour, died. She was greatly beloved by the public, and an 
immense concourse of people went to her funeral. When 

Y2 



258 THE LIFE OF 

they arrived at the church of St. Roque, in order to have the 
funeral service celebrated over her corpse, they found the doors 
shut, and were refused admittance. IN or would the priests 
allow it to be interred in consecrated ground ; as, by the old 
regulations of the church, people of her profession were ex- 
cluded from Christian burial. The populace broke open the 
doors, with sledges, and, perceiving that there was no priest, 
to perform the funeral service, they became clamorous, and 
their rage knew no bounds. They cried, ' to the castle, to the 
castle of the Tuileries! We will see what right these priests 
have, to refuse interment to a Christian corpse !' Their fury 
was heightened still more, by learning that the very coquin, 
the curate of St. Roque, who had refused burial to the corpse 
of mademoiselle Racour, had been in the constant habit of re- 
ceiving presents from her, both for himself and for the poor, 
(for she was extremely charitable) and had frequently dined 
and supped at her house. Moreover, he had actually adminis- 
tered the sacrament to her, a few days before her death. The 
populace cried out, ' Here is a canaille of a priest, who ad- 
ministers the sacrament to a woman, and afterwards denies her 
body Christian burial! if she were worthy of the sacrament, 
she surely is worthy of burial. He receives her benefactions, 
eats her dinners, and refuses her body interment !" About fifty- 
thousand of them went to the Tuileries, to seek redress from 
the king. Not being, at first, aware that the mob was so nu- 
merous, Louis said, ' the curate is right : those players are 
ungodly gentry, they are excommunicated, and have no right 
to Christian burial :' — A few minutes afterwards, Blacas enter- 
ed, in a great fright, and said that there were above seventy- 
thousand furious people about the palace, and that he was 
afraid they would pull it down about their heads. Louis, almost 
out of his senses, with fear, cried out, that immediate orders 
should be given to have the body buried according to the 
rites of the church ; and actually hurried some persons away, 
to have it instantly carried into execution. He was not freed 
from his terror, for some days. — Those priests tried me with 
an experiment of a similar nature, with the body of a beauti- 
ful dancer, but, per Dio, (said Napoleon, with emotion) they 
had not Louis to deal with. I soon settled the affair. I ren- 
dered all the burying places independent of the priests. I 
hated friars, (^frati^) and was the annihilation of them, and of 
their receptacles of crime — the monasteries — where every vice 
was practised, with impunity. They are a set of miscreants, 
who are, in general, a dishonour to the human race. Of 



NAPOLEON. 259 

priests, I would have allowed a sufficient number, but no 
fratiy 

" I always had a high opinion of the British seamen," said 
Napoleon, at another time. " When I was returning from 
Holland, along with the empress Maria Louisa, we stopped to 
rest at Givet. During the night, a violent storm of wind and 
rain occurred ; which swelled the Meuse so much, that the 
bridge of boats over it was carried away. I was very anxious 
to depart, and ordered all the boatmen in the place to be as- 
sembled, that we might be enabled to cross the river. They 
.-aid, that the waters were so high, it would be impossible to 
pass, for two or three days. I questioned some of them, and 
soon discovered that they were fresh-water seamen. I then 
recollected that there were English prisoners in the caserns ; 
and ordered that some of the oldest and best seamen amongst 
them should be brought before me, to the banks of the river. 
The waters were very high, and the current rapid and danger- 
ous. I asked them if they could join a number of boats, so 
that I might pass over. They answered, that it was possible, 
but hazardous. I desired them instantly to begin the work. 
In the course of a few hours, they effected what the other i7«- 
beciles \\;i(\ pronounced impossible; and I crossed before the 
evening was over. I rewarded these gallant fellows. I or- 
dered each to receive a sum of money, a suit of clothes, and 
his liberty ; and they soon afterwards found themselves amongst 
their friends, in England. 

" When I was at Boulogne," continued the emperor, " two 
English sailors arrived there, who had made their escape from 
Verdun, and had passed through the country, undiscovered. 
They had remained there for some time. Having no money, 
they were at a loss how to effect their escape, and there was 
so vigilant a watch kept upon the boats, that they despaired 
of being able to seize one. They made a sort of vessel, of little 
ribs of wood, which they formed with their knives, Hving as 
well as they could, upon roots and fruits. This bark, they cov- 
ered with calico, which they stretched over the ribs : when fin- 
ished, it was not more than about three feet and a half in length, 
and of a proportionate breadth, and so light, that one of them 
carried it on his shoulders. In this little toy, they resolved to 
attempt their passage to England. Seeing an English frigate 
approach very near the shore, they launched their bark, and 
attempted to join her ; but, before they had proceeded far, they 
were discovered by the douaniers, seized, and brought back. 
The story spread about, in consequence of the astonishment 



260 THE LIFE OF 

excited, at seeing two men venture out to sea, in so fragile a 
conveyance. I heard of it, and ordered them, with their little 
ship, to be brought before me. I was, myself, struck with as- 
tonishment, at the idea of men trusting their lives to such an 
article ; and asked them if it were possible they could have 
intended to go to sea in that. They answered, that, to con- 
vince me of it, they were ready that moment to attempt it 
again, in the same vessel. Admiring the boldness of the en- 
terprise, and the bluntness of the reply, I ordered that they 
should be set at Hberty, some napoleons given to them, and 
that they should be provided with conveyance to the English 
squadron." 

" When I was at Tilsit, with the emperor Alexander and 
the king of Prussia, / was the most ignorant of the three in 
military affairs. These two sovereigns, especially the king of 
Prussia, were completely au faity as to the number of buttons 
there ought to be in front of a jacket, how many behind, and 
the manner in which the skirts ought to be cut. Not a tailor 
in the army, knew better than king Frederick, how many meas- 
ures of cloth it took, to make a jacket. In fact," continued 
Napoleon, laughing, " I was nobody, in comparison with them. 
They continually tormented me about matters belonging to 
tailors, of which I was entirely ignorant; though, in order not 
to affront them, I answered just as gravely as if the fate of an 
army depended on the cut of a jacket. When I went to see 
the king of Prussia, instead of a library, I found he had a large 
room, like an arsenal, furnished with shelves and pegs, in 
which were placed fifty or sixty jackets, of various modes. 
Every day, he changed his fashion, and put on one of a different 
make. He was a tall, dry-looking fellow, and would give a 
good idea of Don Quixote. He attached more in)portance to 
the cut of a dragoon or a hussar uniform, than was required 
for the salvation of a kingdom. At Jena, his army performed 
the finest and most showy maneuvres possible ; but I soon put 
a stop to their coglionerie, and taught them, that to fight, and 
to execute dazzling maneuvres, and wear splendid uniforms, 
were very different affairs. If," added he, " the French army 
had been commanded by a tailor, the king of Prussia would 
certainly have gained the day, from his supeiior knowledge in 
that profession ; but, as victories depend more on the skill of 
the general who commands the troops, than on that of the 
tailor who makes their jackets, he consequently was defeated." 

Mr. O'Meara informed him, that colonel Macirone, aid- 
de-camp to Murat, had published some anecdotes of his late 



NAPOLEON. 261 

master. "What does he say of me.^" inquired Napoleon. 
Mr. O'Meara replied, that he had not seen the book, but had 
been informed, by sir Thomas Reade, that he spoke ill of him. 
"Oh," said the emperor, laughing, "that is nothing; I am 
well accustomed to it. But what does he say ?" ^is physician 
replied, that it was asserted that Murat had imputed the loss 
of the battle of Waterloo to the cavalry not having been properly 
employed, and had said, that if he — Murat — had commanded 
them, the French would have gained the day. — " It is very 
probable," rejoined Napoleon ; " I could not be every where, 
and Murat was the best cavalry officer in the world. He would 
have given more impetuosity to the charge. There wanted 
very little, I assure you, to gain the day for me ; enf oncer 
deux ou trois hattaillons, to break through three or four bat- 
talions, and in all probability Murat would have effected 
that. There were not, I believe, two such officers in the 
world, as Murat for the cavalry, and Drouet for the artillery. 
Murat was a most singular character. Four-and-twenty years , 
ago, when he was a captain, I made him my aid-de-camp, 
and subsequently raised him to what he was. He loved, I 
may rather say, adored me. In my presence, he was, as it 
were, struck with awe, and ready to fall at my feet. I acted 
wrong, in having separated him from me ; as, without me, 
he was nothing ; with me, he was my right arm. Order Mu- 
rat to attack and destroy four or five thousand men, in such 
a direction, it was done in a moment ; but leave him to him- 
self, he was an imbecile^ without judgment. I cannot conceive 
how so brave a man could be so lache. He was nowhere 
brave, except before the enemy. There, he was probably the 
bravest man in the world. His boiling courage carried him 
into the midst of the enemy, covered with feathers, and glitter- 
ing with gold. How he escaped, is a miracle, being a dis- 
tinguished mark, and fired at by every one. Even the Cos- 
sacks admired him, on account of his extraordinary courage. 
Every day, Murat was engaged in single combat with some of 
them, and never returned without his sabre dropping with the 
blood of those whom he had slain. Murat and Ney were the 
bravest men I ever witnessed. 

" It is strange, however, that Murat, though he loved me, did 
me more mischief than any other person in the world. When 
I left Elba, I sent a message, acquainting him with what I had 
done. Immediately, he must attack the Austrians. The mes- 
senger went upon his knees, to prevent him ; but, in vain. 
He thought me already master of France, Belgium, and Hoi- 



262 THE LIFE OF 

land. Like a madman, he attacked the Austrians, with his 
canaille, and- ruined me. At that time, there was a negotia- 
tion pending between the Austrians and me, stipulating that 
Francis should remain neuter ; which vyould finally have been 
concluded, pijnd I should have continued undisturbed. But, as 
soon as Murat attacked the Austrians, the emperor imme- 
diately conceived that lie was acting according to my direc- 
tions ; and indeed it will be difficult to make posterity believe 
to the contrary. Metternich said, ' Oh, the emperor Napoleon 
is the same as ever — -a man of iron.' " 

On the eleventh of June, there was sent up to Longwood, 
a beautiful white marble bust of young Napoleon, about the 
natural size; accompanied by presents from laxly Holland 
and Mr. Manning. This image of a beloved infant, so many 
thousand miles distant from its imprisoned father, had been de- 
tained, for several days, by the cruel governor, sir Hudson 
Lowe; who contemplated its destruction, or its being thrown 
into the sea, to prevent his captive from enjoying the pleasure 
of beholding the delineated features of his absent child. 

Some time after the bust arrived. Napoleon sent for his p'^y- 
sician, it was placed on the mantle-piece, in the draw' ig- 
room. "Look at that," said the emperor; "look at that 
image. Barbarous and atrocious, must he the man, who would 
break such an image as that. I esteem the man capable of 
executing, or of ordering it, to be worse than a person who 
administers poison to another. The latter has some object to 
gain ; the former is instigated by nothing but the blackest 
malignancy, and is capable of committing any crime. That 
countenance must melt the heart of the most ferocious wild 
beast. The man who gave orders to break that image, would 
plunge a knife into the heart of the original, if it were in his 
power." — He gazed on the statue, for several minutes, with 
great satisfaction and delight; his face covered with smiles, 
and strongly expressive of paternal love, and in the pride felt 
by him, in being the father of so lovely a boy. 

In the following month, there arrived some further presents. 
These were a superb set of chessmen and a table; two mag- 
nificent carved ivory work-baskets, with a set of ivory counters 
and a box, all of Chinese manufacture. They were accom- 
panied by a letter, stating that they had been made by order 
of the honourable Mr. Elphinstone, for the purpose of being^ 
presented to the distinguished personage whose initials they 
bore ; as a mark of the gratitude entertained by the donor, for 



NAPOLEON. 263 

the extraordinary humanity displayed by Napoleon, which had 
been the means of saving the life of a beloved brother. 

The day before the battle of Waterloo, captain Elpliiiistone 
had been severely wounded, and made prisoner. His situation 
attracted the attention of Napoleon, who instantly ordered his 
surgeon to dress his wounds; and, perceiving that he was 
faint, from loss of blood, sent him a goblet of wine, from his 
own canteen. 

Dr. O'Meara inquired of the emperor, in what engagements 
he considered himself to have been in the greatest personal 
danger. " In the commencement of my campaigns," replied 
Napoleon, " at Toulon, and particularly at Areola. At Areola, 
my horse was shot under me ; when, rendered furious by the 
wound, the animal seized the bit between his teetii, and gal- 
loped on, towards the enemy. In the agonies of deafl), he 
plunged into a morass, and there expired; leaving me nearly 
up to my neck in the swamp, and in a situation from vvliich I 
could not extricate myself. I thought, at one moment, that 
the Austrians would have come, and cut off my head, which 
was just above the surf ice of the morass, and which they could 
have done, without my being able to offer the least resistance. 
However, the difficulty of getting at me, and the approach of 
my soldiers, who rescued me, prevented them." 

He was asked, whether he had not been often slightly 
wounded. He replied, "several times; but scarcely more 
than once had I occasion for surgical assistance, or any fever, 
in consequence of a wound. At Marengo, a cannon-shot 
carried away a piece of the boot of my left leg, and a little of 
the skin ; but I used no other application to it, than a piece 
of linen, dipped in salt and water." — He was asked, if he had 
not had horses frequently killed tinder him ; to which, he an- 
swered, eighteen or nineteen, in the course of his life. 

" When I was about seventeen years of age," continued 
Napoleon, "I narrowly escaped being drowned in the Seine. 
While swimming, I was seized with cramp, and, after several 
ineflfectual struggles, sunk. I experienced all the sensations 
of dying, and lost all recollection. However, after I had sunk, 
the current carried me on a bank of sand, and threw we on 
its edge; where I lay senseless, for I know not how long, and 
was restored to life by the aid of some of my companions, 
who, by accident, saw me lying there. Previous to this, 
they had given me up for lost ; as they saw me sink, and I had 
been carried down, a considerable distance, by the curient." 

"On one occasion, at Marli," said the emperor, "at a 



264 ^ THE LIFE OP 

boar hunt, I kept my ground, with Soult and Berthier, against 
three enormous wild-boars, who charged us up to the bayo- 
net's point. All the hunting party fled : it was a complete 
military rout. We killed the three animals ; but I had a 
scratch from mine, and had nearly lost my finger. But the 
jest was, to see numbers of men, surrounded by their dogs, 
concealing themselves behind us, and crying aloud—' to the 
emperor's assistance! save the emperor! help the emperor!' 
— and so forth ; but not one coming forward." 

Dr. O'Meara had a jocular conversation with Napoleon, 
about patron saints. The emperor asked him who was his 
patron saint — ^what was his Christian name. Mr. O'Meara 
replied, that his first was a family name, that he was called 
after Barry Yelverton, lord Avonmore, an Irish peer. — " But," 
said Napoleon, laughing, " you must have some patron saint, 
to befriend you, and plead your cause in the next world." The 
doctor mentioned his second Christian name, Edward. — 
" Ah!" said Napoleon, " then he will plead for you. St. Na- 
poleon ought to be very much obliged to me, and do every thing 
in his power for me, in the world to come. Poor fellow, nobody 
knew him before. He had not even a day in the calendar. 
I got him one, and persuaded the pope to give him the fifteenth 
of August, my birth-day. I recollect," continued he, " when 
I was in Italy, a priest preaching about a poor sinner who 
had departed this life. He was required to give an account 
of all his actions. The evil and the good were afterwards 
thrown into opposite scales, in order to see which prepon- 
derated. The scale containing the good, proved much the 
lightest, and instantly flew up to the beam. His poor soul 
was condemned to the infernal regions, conducted to the bot- 
tomless pit, consigned over to devils, and thrown into the 
flames. * Already,' said the preacher, ' had the devouring ele- 
ment covered his feet and legs, and proceeded upwards, even 
unto his bowels ; in his vitals, oh ! brethren, he felt them. He 
sunk, and only his head appeared above the waves of fire, when 
he cried out to his patron saint ! — ' Oh ! patron,' said he, ' look 
down upon me, oh ! lake compassion on me, and throw into 
the scale of my good deeds, all the hme and stone that I gave, 

to repair the convent of- .' His saint instantly took the 

hint, gathered together all the lime and stone, and threw them 
into the scale of good, which immediately preponderated; the 
scale of evil sprung up to the beam, and the sinner's soul into 
paradise, at the same moment. Now, you see, by this, breth- 
ren, how useful it is to keep the convents in repair ; for, had 



NAPOLEON. 265 

it not been for the lime and stone, bestowed by this sinner, his 
poor soul would, even now, children, be consuming in hell- 
jire ; and yet you are so blind, as to let the convent and the 
church, built by your forefathers, fall to ruin.' — At this 
time," continued Napoleon, laughing, " these canaille wanted 
to get a new convent built, and had recourse to this expedient, 
to procure money ; which, after this, poured in upon them, 
from all quarters." 

The conversation led to the subject of the post-office estab- 
lishments of Europe. " I have heard," said Dr. O'Meara, 
" that, in all the states on the continent, official letters are 
opened." — " Certainly, they are," answered Napoleon ; " but 
they have not the impudence to deny it, like your ministers, 
though it is carried to as great an extent amongst you, as any 
where else. In France," continued the emperor, "an ar- 
rangement was made, so that all the letters sent by the ambas- 
sadors, or other diplomatic characters, all the household, and 
all persons connected with foreign affairs, were sent to a secret 
department of the post-office, in Paris ^ no matter in what 
part of France they were put in. All letters and despatches, 
in like manner, for foreign courts or ministers, were sent to 
this office, where they were opened and deciphered. The 
writers often used several different ciphers, not continuing the 
same for more than ten lines, in order to prevent their being 
understood. This, however, did not avail. To enable a per- 
son to decipher the most ingenious and difficult, it was only 
necessary to have fifty pages of the same cipher ; which, from 
the extent of the correspondence, was soon obtained. So 
clever were the agents employed, and so soon did they read 
the ciphers, that, latterly, only fifty louis were paid for dis- 
covering the means of deciphering a new one. By opening 
all the letters addressed to diplomatic persons, the post-office 
police became acquainted with their correspondents ; and all 
letters subsequently addressed to them, were treated in the 
same manner. The ambassadors suspected that there were 
some infidelities practised upon their correspondence, and to 
prevent it, used generally to change their cipher every three 
months. But this only gave a little additional trouble. They 
sent their letters sometimes to a post-office town a few miles 
distant from that in which they resided, thinking that they 
were very cunning, and would thus escape observation ; not 
knowing of the arrangement which I have mentioned. The 
ambassadors of the lesser powers, such as Denmark, Sweden, 
and even Prussia, used, through avarice, in order to save the 

Z 



26Q THE LtFE OF 

expense of couriers, to send their despatches through the post 
office, in cipher. How often have 1 laughed, within myself, to 
see them licking the dust from under my feet, at my levee, 
after having read, in the morning, the hetises which they had 
written of me to their sovereigns. Through the correspond- 
ence of the lesser powers, I became acquainted with the opin- 
ions of the greater. The ability of those who conducted this 
machine, was astonishing. There was no species of writing, 
which they could not imitate ; and in the post-office, were 
kept seals, similar to those used by the ambassadors of all the 
foreign powers of Europe, besides an immense number of 
others, belonging to families of different countries. If they 
met with a seal, for which they had not a facsimile, they could 
get one made in twenty-four hours. This arrangement," con- 
tinued Napoleon, " was not an invention of mine. It was first 
begun by Louis XIV. ; and some of the grand-children of the 
agents originally employed by him, filled, in my time, situations 
which had been transmitted to them from their fathers." 

"The emperor Francis," related Napoleon, " whose head 
is crammed with ideas -of high birth, was very anxious to prove 
that I was descended from some of the old tyrants of Treviso ; 
and, after my marriage wnth Maria Louisa, employed several 
persons to search into the musty records of genealogy, in 
which they thought they could find something to prove what 
they desired. He imagined that he had succeeded, at last, 
and wrote to me, asking my consent that he should publish the 
account, with all official formalities. I refused. He was so 
intent, however, upon this favourite object, that he again ap- 
plied, and said, ' Do permit me : you need not appear to take 
any part in it.' — I replied, that this was impossible, as, if pub- 
lished, I should be constrained to notice it ; that I preferred 
being the son of an honest man, to being descended from any 
mean little Italian tyrant; that I was the Rudolph* of my 
family." 

" 'Jl'here was formerly," added Napoleon, " one Buonaven- 
tura Buonaparte, who lived and died a monk. The poor man 
lay quietly in his grave : nothing was thought about him, until 
I was on the throne of France. It was then discovered, that 
he had possessed many virtues, which never had been attributed 
to him before ; and the pope proposed to me, to canonize 
him. * Holy father,' said I, ' spare me that ridicule : — you 

* Rudolph of Hapsburg ; the founder of the Austrian dynasty. 



NAPOLEON. 267 

being in my power, all the world will say that I forced you to 
make one of my family a saint." 

On the thirteenth of August, captain Basil Hall, of the 
British navy, w'as presented to Napoleon. The journal of this 
enterprising and distinguished navigator, afibrds a pleasing ex- 
ample of the extent of the emperor's memory. He instantly 
recognized the name of captain Hall, from having seen his 
father, sir James Hall, when at the military academy of Bri- 
enne ; to which visit, the baronet had been led by the love of 
science. Napoleon explained the cause of his recollecting a 
private individual, after the intervention of occurrences so 
m^omentous as those in which he had been himself concerned. 
" It is not," said he, " surprising. Your father was the first 
Englishman that I ever saw ; and I have recollected him, all 
my life, on that account." 

The emperor was at length led to the very interesting sub- 
ject of the newly discovered island of Loo-Choo. " Having 
settled," says captain Hall, " the geographical position of the 
island, he cross-questioned me, about the inhabitants, with a 
closeness — I may call it a severity, of investigation — which far 
exceeds every thing I have met with, in any other instance. 
His questions were not, by any means, put at random,! but 
each one had a definite reference to that which preceded, or 
was about to follow. I felt, in a short time, so completely ex- 
posed to his view, that it would have been impossible to con- 
ceal or qualify the smallest particular. Such, indeed, was the 
rapidity of his apprehension of the subjects which interested 
him, and the astonishing ease with which he arranged and 
generalized the few points of information I gave him, that he 
sometimes outstripped my narrative, saw the conclusion I 
was coming to before I spoke it, and fairly robbed me of my 
story." 

" Several circumstances, however, respecting the Loo-Choo 
people, surprised even him, a good deal ; and I had the satis- 
faction of seeing him more than once completely perplexed, 
and unable to account for the pjhenomena which I related. 
Nothing struck him so much, as their having no arms. — ' Point 
d'armes!' he exclaimed; ^ c^est a dire, point de canons — Us 
ont des fusils?'' (' that is to say, no cannon — they have mus- 
kets ?') — Not even muskets, I replied. — * Well then, they have 
lances; or at least, bows and arrows?' — ^I told him they had 
neither the one nor the otiier. — ' No poniards ?' cried he, with 
increasing vehemence. No, none. — ' But,' said Buonaparte, 
clenching his fist, and raising his voice to a loud pitch ; ' But 



268 THE LIFE OF 

without arms, how do they fight ?' — I could only reply, that, as 
far as we had been able to discover, they had never any wars, 
but remained in a state of internal and external peace. — ' No 
wars!' cried he, with a scornful and incredulous expression, 
as if the existence of any people under the sun, without wars, 
was a monstrous anomaly. 

" In like manner, but without being so much moved, he 
seemed to discredit the account I gave him of their having no 
money, and of their setting no value on our gold or silver 
coins. After hearing these facts stated, he mused, for some 
time, muttering, to himself, in a low tone, * Not know the use 
of money — are careless about gold and silver!' Then, looking 
up, he asked, sharply, ' How, then, did you manage to pay 
these strangest of all people, for the bullocks and other good 
things, which they seem to have sent on board, in such quan- 
tities ?' When I itiformed him that we could not prevail upon 
the people of Loo-Choo to receive payment of any kind, he 
expressed great surprise at their liberahty, and made me re- 
peat to him, twice, the list of things with which we were sup- 
phed by these hospitable islanders." 

Captain Hall illustrated the ignorance of the people of Loo- 
Ghoo, with respect to all the world, except Japan and China, 
by saying, that they knew nothing of France and England — 
nothing of Europe, at all — and never had heard even of his 
majesty ; at which last proof of their absolute seclusion from 
the world. Napoleon burst into a hearty fit of laughter. 

" Buonaparte," says that acute traveller, " struck me as 
difi'ering considerably from the pictures and busts I had 
seen of him. His face and figure looked much broader, 
and more square ; larger, indeed, in every way, than any 
representation I had met with. His corpulency, at this time 
universally reported to be excessive, was by no means re- 
markable. His flesh looked, on the contrary, firm and mus- 
cular. There was not the least trace of colour in his cheeks ; 
in fact, his skin was more like marble, than ordinary flesh. 
Not the smallest trace of a wrinkle was discernible, on his 
brow ; nor an approach to a furrow, on any part of his coun- 
tenance. His health and spirits, judging from appearances, 
were excellent ; though, at this period, it was generally be- 
lieved, his spirits were entirely gone. His manner of speaking 
was rather slow, than otherwise, and perfectly . distinct : he 
waited, with great patience and kindness, for my answers to 
his questions ; and a reference to count Bertrand was necessary 
only once, during the whole conversation. The brilliant, and 



NAPOLEON. 269 

sometimes dazzling expression of his eye, could not be over- 
looked. It was not, however, a permanent lustre, for it was 
remarkable only when he was excited by some point of par- 
ticular interest. It is impossible to imagine an expression of 
more entire mildness, I may almost call it, of benignity and 
kindness, than that which- played over his features, during the 
whole interview. If, therefore, he were, at this time, out of 
health, and in low spirits, his power of self-command must 
have been more extraordinary, than is generally supposed ; for 
his whole deportment, his conversation, and the expression of 
his countenance, indicated a frame in perfect health, and a 
mind at ease." 
in^n The time at length arrived, when Dr. O'Meara was 
■ removed, in a compulsory manner, from Napoleon. 
The fidelity with which this gentleman had served the emperor, 
who had, for a considerable time past, shown symptoms of that 
hereditary and incurable disease which finally removed him 
from this " sea of troubles" — the firmness with which he re- 
fused to disclose the confidential communications with which 
the illustrious prisoner had honoured his attached physician— 
the unyielding spirit, which could not be overcome by the many 
threats of the unfeehng governor — all these causes roused the 
vengeance of sir Hudson Lowe : he received authority from 
lor<l Bathurst, one of the British ministers, to withdraw Dr. 
O'Meara from his attendance on Napoleon, and, on the twenty- 
fifth of July, ordered him immediately to quit Longwood, and 
to hold no further communication with any of the persons re- 
siding there. 

Humanity, the duties of his profession, and the state of Na- 
poleon's health, alike forbade a compliance with this unchari- 
table mandate. He determined to disobey it. Napoleon's 
health required that he should prescribe for him a regimen, 
and prepare the medicines necessary for him to take, in the 
absence of a surgeon — an absence likely to be of long duration 
— as it was certain that Napoleon would accept of none recom- 
mended by sir Hudson Lowe. He accordingly went into the 
emperor's apartment, "and communicated the order which he 
had received. *' The crime will soon be consummated," said 
Napoleon : " I have lived too lon^ for them. Your minister 
is very cruel," added he : " when the pope was detained in 
France, sooner would 1 have cut off my right arm, than have 
signed an order for the removal of his surgeon." 

Napoleon, however, desired his physician to obey. After 
some further conversation, and Mr. O'Meara had given him 

Z2 



270 THE LIFE OF 

some hasty medical instruction, Napoleon said, " When you 
arrive in JEurope, you will either go yourself, or send to my 
brother Joseph : you will inform him that I desire he will give 
to you the private and confidential letters written to me by the 
emperors Alexander and Francis, the king of Prussia, and the 
other sovereigns of Europe, which I delivered to his care, at 
Rochefort. You will publish them, to cover with shame those 
sovereigns, and manifest to the world the abject homage which 
those vassals paid to me, when asking favours, or supplicating 
for their thrones. When I was strong, and in power, they 
courted my protection and the honour of my alliance, and 
licked the dust from under my feet. Now, in my old age, they 
basely oppress and take my wife and child from me. I require 
of you to do this, and if you see any calumnies published of 
me during the time that you have been with me, and that you 
can say, ' I have seen with my own eyes, that this is not true,' 
contradict them." 

Napoleon soon afterwards dictated a short letter, addressed 
generally to his relations, desiring that they would give credit 
to any thing that Dr. O'Meara should write concerning him; 
and added a postcript, in his own hand-writing, requesting that 
if the doctor should meet the empress Maria Louisa, she would 
permit him to kiss her hand. He then presented his departing 
friend with a superb snuff-box, and a statue of himself, enjoin- 
ing him, on his arrival in Europe, to make inquiries about his 
family, and communicate to the several members of it, that he 
did not wish that any of them should come to St. Helena, to 
witness the miseries and humiliations under which he laboured. 
— " You will express the sentiments which I preserve for 
them," added he. " You will bear my affections to my good 
Louisa, to my excellent mother, and to Pauline. If you see 
my son, embrace him for me : may he never forget that he 
was born a French prince ! Testify to lady Holland the sense 
I entertain of her kindness, and the esteem which I bear to 
her. Finally, endeavour to send ma authentic intelligence of 
the manner in which my son is educated." — The emperor then 
shook him by the hand, and embraced him, saying, " Adieu 
O^Meara; nous ne reverrons jamais encore. Soyez heureuxy 
" Adieu O'Meara ; we shall never meet again. May you be 
happy." 

On Mr. O'Meara's return to Europe, he used every exertion 
to obtain the important letters from the continental sovereigns 
of Europe, to Napoleon ; but his efforts were not attended 
with success. Before Joseph Buonaparte had left Rochefort,. 



NAPOLEON. 271 

for America, apprehensive that he might be seized by the alhed 
powers, he judged it prudent to deposit his precious charge in 
the hands of a person upon whose integrity he thought he 
could rely ; but, who, it has since appeared, basely betrayed 
his trust, as the letters were afterwards carried to London, for 
sale, and offered for thirty-thousand pounds. This was imme- 
diately communicated to some of the British ministers, and to 
the foreign ambassadors, and it is believed that the Russian 
ambassador paid ten-thousand pounds to redeem the letters of 
his master. 

Unpleasant and discreditable disputes, such as we have often 
already noticed, form unhappily the most marked events of Na- 
poleon's latter days. In the five years and seven months during 
which he remained in the island of St. Helena, few circum- 
stances occurred, to vary the melancholy tenor of his life, ex- 
cept those which affected his temper or his health. Reports 
had been long current, concerning the decline of Napoleon's 
health, even before the battle of Waterloo; and many imputed 
his failure in that decisive campaign, less to the superiority of 
his enemies, than to the decrease of his own habits of activity. 
But there seems no ground for such a conclusion. The rapid 
manner in which he concentrated his army upon Charleroi, 
showed that he retained all his energies, in their pristine 
vigour. He was occasionally subject to short fits of drowsi- 
ness, such as are incident to most men, especially after the 
age of forty, who sleep ill, rise early, and work hard. 

That the malady of Napoleon was- produced by the chmate 
of St. Helena, we are not disposed to believe. The island, on 
the contrary, has maintained a high reputation for salubrity of 
air. Of Napoleon's numerous family, of nearly fifty persons, 
Englishmen included, only one died, during their residence of 
more than five years ; and that person — Cipriani, the maitre 
d'hotel — had contracted the illness which terminated his ex- 
istence, being a species of consumption, before he left his na- 
tive land. 

About the end of September, Napoleon's health seems to 
have been seriously affected. He complained much of nausea, 
his legs swelled, and there were other symptoms which induced 
his physicians to inform him that he was of a temperament 
that required much activity, and that without exercise he must 
soon lose his health. He immediately declared, that, while 
exposed to the challenge of sentinels, he never would take ex- 
ercise, however necessary to preserve his life. Mr. O'Meara 
had proposed to call in the assistance of Dr, Baxter, a medical 



272 THE LIFE OF 

gentleman of eminence on sir Hudson Lowe's staff'. " He 
could but say the same as you do,'' said Napoleon, and recom- 
mend my riding abroad ; nevertheless, as long as the present 
system continues, I will never leave the house." When the 
governor sent to oflTer him some extension of his riding-ground, 
and Dr. O'Meara wished him to avail himself of the permis- 
sion, he replied, that he should be insulted by the challenge of 
the sentinels, and that he did not choose to submit to the ca- 
price of the governor, who, granting an indulgence one day, 
might recall it the next. 

After the removal of Mr. O'Meara, sir Hudson Lowe again 
offered the assistance of Dr. Baxter : but this was construed, 
at Longwood, into an additional offence. It was even treated 
as an Offer big with suspicion. The governor endeavoured, 
it was said, to intrude his own private physician upon the em- 
peror, that he might have his life more effectually in his 
power. — Of so insidious and atrocious a design, we most un- 
hesitatingly and positively acquit both the governor and the 
English ministry. Assassination is a crime which the British 
nation hold in the utmost abhorrence : it is, moreover, incon- 
sistent with the morality of the present age; and in no country 
in Europe, do we think that any military officer of fuir reputa- 
tion, much less a whole cabinet of ministers, could be induced 
to perpetrate or encourage a deed so horrid. 

Dr. Stokoe, surgeon of the Conqueror, was at length called 
in, to prescribe for the illustrious patient. But differences 
arose between him and sir Hudson Lowe, and, after a few 
visits, he was discharged. 

Napoleon now expressed his determination, whatever might 
be the extremity of his case, not to permit the visits of an 
English physician: a commission was therefore sent to Italy,- 
to obtain a medical man of eminence in that country. At the 
same time, he signified a desire to have the conversation of a 
catholic priest. The proposition for this purpose, came 
through his uncle, cardinal Fesch, to the papal g(wernment, 
■,p-,q and readily received the assent of the British ministry. 
Two churchmen were despatched to b't. Helena, in- 
stead of one. The senior priest, father Bonavita, was an 
elderly, infirm man ; his recommendation to the office which 
be now undertook, was, his liaving been father confessor to 
Napoleon's mother. His companion was a young abbe, called 
Vignali. Both were pious, good men, well qualified to give 
Napoleon the comfort held out by their church to those who 



NAPOLEON. 273 

receive its tenets , but not so well skilled to cause the return 
of one who had strayed beyond the shepherd's fold. 

Argument or controversy, however, was not required. Na- 
poleon had declared his resolution to die in the faith of his 
fathers. He was neither an infidel, he said, nor a philosopher. 
On various occasions, he had expressed, with deep feelings of 
devotion, his belief in the existence of the Deity, the great 
truth on which the whole system of religion rests ; and this at a 
time when the doctrines of atheism and materialism were gen- 
erally current in France. 

The same vessel which brought those physicians for the 
mind, brought also Dr. F. Antommarchi, who had been as- 
sistant professor of anatomy in a public hospital In Florence. 
This gentleman seems to have been acceptable to Napoleon ; 
the more so, as he was a native of Corsica. He brought news 
also from his family, and particularly from the princess Pau- 
line Borghese ; who had offered her service to attend him. — 
" Let her remain where she is," said Napoleon ; " I would not 
have her witness the degraded state to which I am reduced." 

His case was mentioned, in the British parliament, on the 
twelfth of July, in the present year. The subject was introduced 
into a debate on finance ; when Mr. Charles Hely Hutchinson 
pointed out the yearly cost of detaining Napoleon at St. 
Helena, as a useless expenditure of pubhc money. The com- 
plexion of the times, it was answered, had become such as to 
strengthen every reason that existed for detaining him in cap- 
tivity. The state of England, owing to the sufferings and 
discontents of the manufacturing districts, and more especially 
the state of Italy, convulsed by the short-lived revolutions of 
Naples and Savoy, rendered the safe custody of Napoleon a 
matter of more deep importance, than it had been at any other 
time since his fall. 

As Napoleon's health grew weaker, his mind became pro- 
portionably depressed. In the absence of other means of 
amusing himself, he became interested in the construction of 
a pond and fountain, in the garden of Longwood, which was 
stocked with a variety of small fishes. A mixture of copperas 
in the substance used to cement the basin, had infused its 
poison through the water. The creatures, which had employ- 
ed much of Napoleon's attention, began to sicken and die. 
He was deeply affected by the circumstance ; and in the most 
feeling language, expressed his sense of the fatality which 
seemed to attach itself to him. — " Every thing I love — every 
thing that belongs to me," he exclaimed, " is immediately 



274 THE LIFE OF 

struck. Heaven and mankind unite to afflict me." — The bed, 
he said, was now a place of luxury, which he would not ex- 
change for all the thrones upon the earth. His eyes, formerly 
so watchful and so brilliant, could now scarcely be opened, 
and all their fiery lustre had passed away. He recollected 
that he used to dictate to four or five secretaries, at once. 
" But then," he said, " I was Napoleon — now I am no longer 
any thing : — my strength, my faculties, forsake me — I no longer 
live — I only exist." 
. o^^ The generous feelings of the British sovereign, seem- 
* ed deeply interested in the fate of the imperial exile, 
and prompted him, by every means in his power, and espe- 
cially by expressions of his own sympathy, to extend such hope 
and comfort to Napoleon, as he could be supposed to receive 
while in the situation of a captive : — 

" I am aware," says lord Bathurst, in his despatch to sir 
Hudson Lowe, dated the sixteenth of February, " how diffi- 
cult it is to make any communication to the general, which 
will not be liable to misrepresentation ; and yet, if he be really 
ill, he may derive some consolation by knowing, that the re- 
peated accounts which have lately been transmitted, of his de- 
clining health, have not been received with indifference. You 
will therefore communicate to general Buonaparte, the great 
interest which his majesty has taken in the recent accounts of 
his indisposition ; and the anxiety which his majesty feels to 
afford him every relief of which his situation admits. You will 
assure general Buonaparte, that there is no alleviation which 
can be derived from additional medical assistance, nor any ar- 
rangement consistent with the safe custody of his person at St. 
Helena, (and his majesty cannot now hold out any expectation 
of his removal,) which his majesty is not most ready and de- 
sirous to afford. You will not only repeat the offer which has 
been more than once made, of such further medical assistance 
as the island of St. Helena affords, but you will give him the 
option of procuring the attendance of any of the medical gen- 
tlemen who are at the Cape, where there is one, at least, of 
considerable eminence in his profession : and, in case of any 
wish being expressed by the general, to receive such assistance, 
you will consider yourself authorized to make a communica- 
tion to the Cape, and take such other measures as may be 
necessary, to secure the immediate attendance of the person 
whom the general may name." 

Napoleon had not the satisfaction to know the interest which 
the king of England took in his illness. Towards the end of 



NAPOLEON. 276 

February, his disease assumed a character still more formida- 
ble ; and Dr. Antommarchi, after much solicitation, obtained 
permission from Napoleon to consult with Dr. Arnott, surgeon 
of the twentieth regiment. But the united opinion of the 
medical gentlemen could not overcome the aversion of Napo- 
leon to medicine, or shake the belief reposed by him in the 
gloomy doctrine of fatalism. " Qvod scripium, scriptvm,'" 
he replied, in the language of a Moslem. " All that is to 
happen is written down. Our hour is marked, and it is not 
in our power to claiuj a moment longer of life, ihan is predes- 
tined for us, by fate." 

From the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth of April, Napoleon 
was engaged, from time to time, in making his testamentary 
bequests. 

As the strength of the patient sunk, the symptoms of his 
disorder became less equivocal ; until, on the twenty-seventh 
of April, the ejection of a dark-coloured fluid, afforded further 
insight into the nature of his malady. On the twenty-eighth, 
Napoleon gave instructions to Antommarchi, that after his 
death, his body should be opened, but that no English medical 
man should touch him, unless assistance were absolutely neces- 
sary ; in which case, he permitted Antommarchi to call in Dr. 
Arnott. He directed that his heart should be conveved to 
Parma, to Maria Louisa ; and that his stomach should be 
particularly examined, and the report transmitted to his son. 

During the third of May, it was seen that the earthly tene- 
ment of Napoleon would soon be vacated by his immortal 
spirit. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the priest Vignali 
administered the sacrament of extreme unction. Some days 
before. Napoleon had explained to him the manner in which 
his body should be laid out in state, in an apartment lighted 
by torches, or what catholics call un chamhre ardente. " I am 
neither," he said, in the same phrase which we have already 
quoted, •' a })hilosopher nor an infidel. I believe in God, and 
am of the religion of my father. It is not every one that can 
be an atheist. 1 was born a catholic, and will fulfil all the 
duties of the catholic church, and receive the assistance which 
it administers." He then turned to Antommarchi, whom he 
seems to have suspected of heterodoxy, which the doctor, how- 
ever, disowned. — "How can you carry it so far'" he said. 
" Can you not believe in God, whose existence every thing 
proclaims, and in whom the greatest minds have believed ?" 

" As if to mark a closing point of resemblance between 
Cromwell and Napoleon, a dreadful tempest arose on the 



276 THE LIFE OF 

fourth of May, which preceded the day that was to terminate 
the mortal existence of this extraordinary man. A willow, 
which had been the exile's favourite, and under which he had 
often enjoyed the fresh breeze, was torn up by the hurricane ; 
and nearly all the trees about Longwood shared the same fate. 

" The fifth of May came amidst wind and rain. Napoleon's 
passing spirit was deliriously engaged in a strife more terrible 
than that of the elements around. The words ' tete d''armee^'' 
the last that escaped his lips, intimated that his thoughts were 
watching the current of an impetuous fight. About eleven 
minutes before six in the evening, Napoleon, after a struggle 
which indicated the original strength of his constitution, 
breathed his last. 

" The officers of Napoleon's household were disposed to 
have the body anatomized in secret. But sir Hudson Lowe 
had too deep a sense of the responsibility under which he and 
his country stood, to permit it. He declared, that even if he 
were reduced to make use of force, he would insure the pres- 
ence of English physicians at the dissection." 

Generals Bertrand and Montholon, with Marchand, the valet- 
de-chambre of the deceased, were present at the operation ; 
which was witnessed also by sir Thomas Reade, and some 
British staff-officers. Drs. Thomas Shortt, Archibald Arnott, 
Charles Mitchell, Matthew Livingstone, and Francis Burton, 
all medical men, were likewise present. The cause of his 
death was sufficiently evident. A large ulcer occupied almost 
the whole of the stomach. It was only the strong adhesion 
of the diseased parts of that organ to the concave surface of 
the lobe of the liver, which, being over the ulcer, had prolong- 
ed the patient's life, by preventing the escape of the contents 
of the stomach into the cavity of the abdomen. 

The gentlemen of Napoleon's suite were desirous that his 
heart should be preserved, and given to their custody. But 
sir Hudson Lowe did not feel authorized to allow this. He 
agreed, however, that the heart should be placed in a silver 
vase, filled with spirits, and interred with the body ; so that, 
in case his instructions from home should so permit, it might 
be afterwards disinhumed, and sent to Europe. 

The place of interment became the next subject of discus- 
sion. On this subject. Napoleon had been inconsistent. His 
testamentary disposition expressed a wish that his remains 
should be deposited on the banks of the Seine ; a request with 
which he could not have supposed the European sovereigns 
would have complied. A grave for the emperor within the 



NAPOLEON. 277 

limits of the rocky island where he had expired, was the only 
alternative that remained ; and, sensible that this would be the 
determination, he had himself indicated the spot where he 
wished to lie. It was a small secluded recess, called Slane's 
or Haine's Valley, where a fountain arose, at which the 
Chinese domestics used to fill the silver vessels which they 
carried to Longwood for Napoleon's use. The spot was more 
verdant and shady than any in the neighbourhood ; and the 
illustrious captive often reposed under the beautiful weeping 
willows which overhung the spring. 

The body, after lying in state, in his small bed-room, was, 
on the eighth of May, carried to the place of interment. The 
pall which covered the coffin, was the military cloak which 
Napoleon had worn at the battle of Marengo. The members 
of his late household attended, as mourners ; followed by the 
governor, the admiral, and all the civil and military authorities 
of the island. All the troops were under arms. As the road 
did not permit a near approach of the hearse to the place of 
sepulture, a party of British grenadiers had the honour of 
bearing the coffin to the grave. The funeral service was sol- 
emnized by the abbe Vignali. Minute-guns were fired from 
the admiral's ship ; and the coffin was let down into the grave 
under a discharge of three successive volleys of artillery ; 
fifteen pieces of cannon firing three rounds each. 

Napoleon Buonaparte, to whom it is probable that future 
ages will assign the character of Great, had lived fifty-one 
years, eight months, and twenty days. 

" Few men," observes an impartial historian, " have done 
more mischief in the world, than Napoleon — and not many 
have done more good. In giving liberty of conscience to pro- 
fessors of all religions ; in finally destroying every vestige of 
the feudal system ; in overturning the detestable power of the 
inquisition ; and, lastly, in the promulgation of his edict for 
the abolition of the slave-trade ; whatever construction we 
may attach to the motives, we cannot but sincerely approve 
the deeds." 



Aa 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abercrombie, Ralph, 74, 96, 97, 

98. 
Aboukir, battle of, 70, 71, 79. 
Abrantes, duke of: see Junot. 
Achmet D'jezzar, 75, 78. 
Acre, siege of, 76, 77, 78, 79,252. 
iEronauts, 33, 34. 
Albuera, battle of, 159. 
Albufuera, duke of: see Suchet. 
Alexander, emp. 94, 114, 119, 128, 

129, 161, 164, 172, 173, 174, 206, 

226, 260. 
Alexandria, 63, 64, 75, 97, 179. 
Alps, passage of, 89, 90. 
Alvinzi, marshal, 49. 
Amiens, peace of, 98. 
Andreossi, gen. 44, 62, 80. 
Andujar, battle of, 136. 
Angouleme, duke of, 218. 
Antommarchi, Dr. 273, 275. 
Areola, battle of, 49, 50. 
Arlon, battle of, 33. 
Armed Neutrality, 93. 
Arrighis, gen. 109, 214. 
Aspern, battle of, 143, 144. 
Auerstadt, duke of: see Davoust. 
Augereau, gen. 44, 45, 60, 109, 

126. 
Austerlitz, battle of, 115, 116, 117, 

118, 119,120. 

B. 

Badajoz, siege of, 159. 
Bagration, prince, 113, 115. 
Baird, sir David, 97, 124. 
Ballinamuck, battle of, 72. 
Balloon, 33, 34. 
Barclay de Tolly, 162, 163. 
Barras, 30, 41, 42, 44, 60, 82, 83. 
Barrere, 32. 
Barthelemi, abbe, 60. 
Basle, treaty of, 38. 
Bathurst, lord, 269, 274. 
Bautzen, battle of, 173. 
Bavaria, kingdom of, 126. 
Beauharnois, covmt, 227. 
Beauharnois, Eugene, 44, 139, 143, 
149, 227. 



Beaulieu, gen. 33, 44, 46, 48. 
Bellegarde, marshal, 210. 
Belliard, gen. 97, 98, 179. 
Belluno, duke of: see Victor. 
Bender, marshal, 42. 
Benevento, prince of : see Talley- 
rand. 
Beningsen, gen. 128. 
Beresford, gen. 124, 159, 175. 
Beresina, passage of the, 168. 
Berg, grand-duke of: see Murat. 
Berlin, capture of, 127. 
Bernadotte, gen. 105, 109, 112, 

113, 115, 126, 145, 158, 172, 173, 

174. 
Berri, duke of, 196, 224. 
Berthier, gen. 44, 61, 62, 80, 105, 

109, 115, 130, 197,264. 
Berthollet, 42, 62, 110. 
Bertrand, gen. 144, 181, 187, 196, 

204, 207,214, 225, 228, 229,234. 

236, 237, 245, 249, 276. 
Bessieres, gen. 80, 95, 109, 117, 

140, 165, 173. 
Bianca, com. 71. 
Blake, gen. 159, 160. 
Blucher, marshal, 126, 173, 174, 

176, 198, 199, 203, 206, 216. 
Bon, gen. 78. 
Bonavita, 272. 
Borodino, battle of, 163. 
Bouvet, adm. 53, 197, 264. 
Boyer, gen. 100. 
Bridport, adm. lord, 38. 
Brienne, mil. acad. at, 10, 11 
Brissot, 18, 22, 
Bruce, Crawford, 223. 
Brueyes, adm. 70, 71. 
Brune, gen. 61, 74, 92, 216. 
Brunswick, duke of, 126, 127. 
Brunswick, duke of, the younger, 

143, 199. 
Buenos Ayres, 124. 
Buonaparte, CaroHne, 9, 211,213. 
Buonaparte, Charles, 9. 
Buonaparte, Francis Napoleon, 

163. 
Buonaparte, Jerome, 9, 17, 129 

162, 200,201,223,224. 



280 



INDEX. 



Buonaparte, Joseph 9, 61, 81, 90, 
92,98, 112, 125, 134, 136, 146, 
160, 176,223,224,270. 

Buonaparte, Louis, 9, 129, 157, 
223. 

Buonaparte, Lucien, 9, 16, 17, 81, 
85, 87, 135, 223. 

Buonaparte, Madame, 9, 17, 188, 
270. 

Buonaparte, Maria Anne, 9. 

Buonaparte, Maria Pauline, 9, 99, 
188, 270. 

Buonaparte, Napoleon, 9, 10, 11, 
12, 13,14, 15,16, 17, 18,26,41, 
44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 
54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 
64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 77, 
78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 
87,88,89,90,91,94,99,101,102, 
103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 
110,111,112,113,114,115,116, 
117, 118, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125, 
126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 
133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 
140, 141, 142. 144, 145, 146, 147, 
148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 
155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 
164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 
172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 179, 180, 
181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 
188, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197, 
198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 
205, 207, 208, 224, 225, 226, 227, 
228, 229, 230, 231 , 232, 233, 234, 
235,236,237,238,239,240,241, 
243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 
250, 251, 252,-253. 254, 255, 256, 
257, 258, 259, 260, 261,262, 263, 
264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 
271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277. 

Buonaparte, Nap. the younger, 
163, 180, 205, ^ 

Burgos, siege of, 160. 

Burrard, sir H. 137. 

Buxhov^den, gen. 116. 
C. 

CafFerelli, gen. 79. 

Cairo, capture of, 68, 97. 

Calendar, new, 25, 26. 

Cambaceres, 86, 154. 

Campbell, sir N. 183, 186, 188, 191 , 
192. 

Camperdown, battle of, 59. 

Campo Formio, treaty of, 57, 92. 

Cape of Good Hope, 43, 98, 124. 

Caprara, card. 106. 



Carnot, 37, 42, 60, 87, 99, 104, 

205, 214. 
Carriere, 32. 
Cartaux, gen. 25, 26. 
Castanos, gen. 136, 159. 
Castiglione, battle of, 48. 
Castiglione, duke of: see Au- 

gereau. 
Cathcart, lord, 131 
Catherine II. 54. ' 

Caulincourt, 109, 168, 169, 180. 
Cavan, gen. lord, 96. 
Charles, archduke, 19, 52, 53, 55, 

56, 73, 88, 112, 139, 140, 141, 

142 144 145. 
Charles IV. 133, 134, 135, 136. 
Charleroi, capture of, 198. 
Chatham, gen. lord, 148. 
Chebrissa, battle of, 66. 
Christophe, gen. 100. 
Cintra, convent, of, 137. 
Cisalpine Republic, 49, 57. 
Cispadane Republic, 49. 
Ciudad Rodrigo, 160. 
Clairfait, gen. 19. 
Cloots, Anacharsis, 28. 
Cobentzel, count, 92. 
Cobourg, prince of, 24. 
Cockburn, sir George, 207, 229, 

236,237,240,241,242. 
Collingwood, adm. 121, 123. 
Collot, d'Herbois, 25, 32. 
Condorcet, 22. 

Conegliana,dukeof: seeMoncey. 
Confederation of the Rhine, 126, 

129, 139. 
Constantine, grand d. 115, 117, 

128. 
Continental System, 132, 161. 
Convention, National, 28. 
Coote, gen. 96. ^ 

Copenhagen, 93, 131, 132, 
Corday, Charlotte, 21. 
Cordova, don Joseph de, 58. 
Cornwallis, marquis, 71, 72, 98. 
Corsica, 34, 49. 
Corunna, battle of, 138. 
Corvisart, 110, 154. 
Costaz, 110. 

Council of Elders, 40, 81, 82. 
Council of Five Hundred, 40, 60, 

82. 
Couthon, 21, 30,31. 
Craddock, gen. 96. 
Cuesta, gen. 158. 
Custine, gen. 22, 



INDEX. 



281 



D. 

Dalmatia, duke of: see Soult. 

Dalrymple, sir, H. 137. 

Dampiere, gen. 20. 

Danton, 29. 

Dantzic, duke of: see Lefebre. 

David, 90, 106, 107, 1 10. 

Davoust, gen. 62, 109, 112, 116, 

126, 140, 145. 
D'Artois, count, 87, 88. 
DeBausset, M. 108,110,111,130. 
D'Eglantine, Fabre, 29. 
D'Herbois, Collot, 32. 
D'Enghein, duke, 103, 112. 
De Guiche, duchess, 87, 88. 
Denon, 62, 64, 110, 123, 256. 
Depaux, 80. 
De Pradt, abbe, 169. 
D'Eslon, count, 200. 
Desmoulins, Camille, 29. 
Dessaix, gen. 62, 65, 66, 75, 91. 
Dessalines, gen. 100. 
De Winter, adm. 59. 
Directory, 38, 40, 73. 
Doyle, gen. sir John, 96. 
Dresden, battle of, 173. 
Drouet, gen. 181, 187, 196, 214. 
Ducos, Roger, 73, 80, 81, 85. 
Dugomier, gen. 19, 20,26. 
Durnourier, gen. 19. 
Duncan, adm. 58. 
Dnndas, gen. 34. 
Dunkirk, siege of, 23. 
Dupont, gen. 136. 
Duroc, gen. 26, 109, 167, 168, 173. 

E. 

Ebensberg, battle of, 140. 
Eckmuhl, battle of, 140. 
Et^'alite, the younger, 19. 
El Arish, capture of, 75, 96. 
Elba, 185, 186. 

Elchingen, duke of: see Ney. 
Elphinstone, adm. 43. 
Elphinstone, capt. 263. 
Esling, battle of, 142, 144, 145. 
Esling, prince of: see Massena. 
Etrufia, kingdom of, 92. 

F. 

Feltre, duke of, 217. 
Ferdinand, archduke, 140. 
Ferdinand VII. 133, 135, 136. 
Fesch, cardinal, 156. 
Fiume, capture of, 55. 
Fleurus, battle of, 33. 

Aa2 



Fontaine, HO. 
Foquiere de Tinville, 32. 
Fouche, 87, 109, 136, 151, 152, 

154,206,217. 
Fourcroix, 42. 
Fox, Charles J. 124. 
Francis 11.33,57,73,92,112,119. 

126, 145, 148, 173, 174, 178, 189, 

216,266. 
Frederick William II. 34, 60, 
Frederick William III. 61, 125. 

126, 129, 172, 173, 206,260. 
Friedlaiid, battle of, 128. 
Friuli, duke of: see Duroc. 

G. 

Gambier, adm. lord, 131. 

Gaza, capture of, 75, 79. 

Georges, Cadoudal, 102. 

Gerard, 110. 

Godoy, prince of peace, 135, 136. 

Gonier, 73. 

Gourgaud, gen. 207, 228, 229, 234, 

236, 245. ' 
Grenvilie, lord, 88, 124. 
Gressier, gen. 75. 
Grouchy, gen. 199, 202, 214,228, 
Guadaloupe, 38. 
Gustavus Adolphus, 157. 

H. 

Hall, capt, 267, 268. 

Hall, major, 98. 

Hassan Bey, 75. 

Hayti, 100. 

Hebert, 28, 29. 

Helvetic Republic, 61. 

Hill, gen. 158. 

Hoche, gen. 23,25, 38, 39, 53, 7(. 

Hochkirk, battle of, 173. 

H offer, 147. 

Hohenlinden, battle of, 91. 

Hohenloe, prince, 126. 

Holland, kingdom of, 129. 

Holland, lady, 262, 270. 

Holland, lord, 124,270. 

Hood, admiral, 17, 34. 

Hope, gen. 138. 

Hotham, admiral, 38. 

Houchard, gen. 23. 

Howe, admiral, lord, 35, 36. 

Howick, lord, 124. 

Humbert, gen. 72. 

Hnmbold,gen. 104. 

Hutchinson, capt. 223. 

Hutchinson, gen. 96, 97. 



282 



INDEX. 



Ik J. 
Ibrahain Bey, 70, 75. 
Infernal Machine, 94, 95, 96. 
Institute of Egypt, 70. 
Ireland, invasion of, 53. 
Isabey, 107, 108, 110. 
Istria, duke of: see Bessieres. 
Italian Republic, 99, 102. 
Jaifa, capture of, 75,, 79. 
Jena, battle of, 127. 
Jervis, sir John, 58. 
John, archduke, 91, 143. 
Josephine, empress, 17, 44, 87, 88, 

104, 105, 110, 111, 134, 135, 140, 

148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 

155, 226, 227. 
Joubert, gen. 44, 50, 51, 73. 
Jourdan, gen. 23, 24, 32, 33, 42, 

43 52 73. 
Junot, gen. 18, 77, 109, 116, 132, 

137. 

K. 

Keith, Elphinstone, sir George, 43. 

Keller, gen. 140. 

Kellerman, gen. 105, 109. 

Kilnmayer, 116. 

Kleber, gen. 62, 65, 77, 78, 80, 96, 

97. 
Koller,*gen. 182, 188. 
Kray, field-marshal, 88, 89. 
KutusolF, gen. 115, 117, 163, 166, 

173. 



Labedoyere, col. 214, 215. 

La Fayette, 87, 205. 

La Harpe, gen. 45. 

L'Allemagne, gen. 207, 214. 

Landshut, battle of, 140. 

La Place, 39, 42. 

Las Cases, count de, 207, 225, 

226, 228, 229, 231, 232, 236, 239, 

243, 244, 247, 253, 254. 
Lasnes, gen. 44, 62, 78, 80, 90, 95, 

109,112,115,117,126, 138,140, 

141, 143. 
Latour Maubourg, 87. 
Lauriston, gen. 175. 
Lavalette, M. 214, 221, 222, 223. 
Lav alette, madame, 222. 
La Vendee, 24, 25. 
Lavosier, 23. 
Le Brun, 86. 
Leclerc, gen. 85,99,100, 109, 140, 

214. 



Lefebre Desnouettes, gen. 214, 

223. 
Legion of Honour, 99. 
Leipsic, battle of, 174, 175. 
Leoben, treaty of, 57. 
Lepaux, Larevelliere, 42, 60, 73. 
Letourneur, 42. 

Lichtenstein, prince John of, 1 13. 
Ligny, battle of, 199. 
Liniers, col. 124. 
Lisbon, capture of, 132. 
Lobau, battle of, 142, 143, 144, 

214. 
Lobau, count, 200, 214. 
Lodi, battle of, 46. 
Lough Swilly, 72. 
Louis, archduke, 140. 
Louis XVII. 17. 
Louis XVIIL 87, 181, 190, 197, 

205, 206, 213. 
Louis of Prussia, prince, 127. 
Lowe, sir H. 241, 242, 245', 247^ 

250, 253, 269, 272, 276. 
Luckner, marshal, 22. 
Ludlow, gen. 96. 
Luneville, treaty of, 92. 
Lutzen, battle, of, 173. 
Lyons, city of, 22, 25. 

M. 

Macdonald,gen. 91, 109, 175, 180, 

181,196. 
Mack, gen. 112. 
Maida, battle of, 125. 
Maitland, capt. 207. 
Malcom, sir P. 249. 
Malesherbes, 30. 
Malmsbwry, lord, 53. 
Malo-Jaroslavitz, battle of, 165.^ 
Malta, 62, 63, 92, 98. 
Mamelukes, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69. 
Mantua, siege of, 47, 48, 51, 52, 

54, 55, 92. 
Marat, 20, 21. 
Marboeuf, count de, 10. 
Marengo, battle of, 90, 91. 
Maret, gen. 168. 
Maria Louisa, 57, 141, 148, 155, 

156, 172, 173, 178, 179, 180, 181, 

197 259 270. 
Marmont,'gen. 80, 89, 109, 112, 

176, 197, 222. 
Marmontel, 42. 
Marseilles, 22, 25. 
Martin, admiral, 38^ 
Martinico, 38» 



INDEX. 



283 



Massena, gen. 44, 45, 49, 59, 73, 
74,91, 109, 143, 144,159. 

Mataria, battle of, 97. 

Melas, gen. 73, 90, 91. 

Menou, gen. 97, 257. 

Merlin, Antoine, 60, 73, 80. 

Meuron, col. 252. 

Milesimo, battle of, 45, 

Miranda, gen. 19. 

Moira, earl of, 24, 

Moncey, gen. 90, 105, 109, 136, 
2J4. 

Monge, 62, 100. 

Monroe, James, 36. 

Montebello, duke of: see Lasnes. 

Montenotte, battle of, 45. 

Montholon, count, 207, 228, 229, 
234 236, 276. 

Moore, gen. sir J.'96, 137, 138. 

Moreau, gen. 32, 42, 52, 73, 88, 
91, 102. 

Mortier, gen. 102, 176, 180,214. 

Moscow, 163, 164, 173. 

Moulin, 73, 80. 

Mount Tabor, battle of, 77. 

Murad Bey, 67, 70, 75. 

Murat, gen. Joachim, 44, 62, 80, 
85, J03, 105, 109, 112, 113, 115, 
117,126, 133, 134,161,168,189, 
198, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 261, 
262. 

Mustapha Bey, 79. 

N, 

Naples, kingdom of, 129. 

Napoleon : see Buonaparte. 

Napoleon, the younger: see Buo- 
naparte. 

National Institute, 42. 

Nelson, adm. lord, 59, 62, 70, 93, 
94, 120, 121, 122, 123. 

Netherlands, kingdom of, 189, 

Neufchateau, Francis de, 60. 

Neufchatel, prince of: see Ber- 
thier. 

Ney, gen. 109, 112, 113, 126, 127, 
167, 195, 198, 199, 214, 215, 219, 
220, 221. 

O. 

O'Meara, Dr. 229, 234, 236, 238, 
242, 243, 246, 248, 249, 251,260, 
261, 263, 264, 265, 269, 270, 271, 
272. 

Orange prince of, 175, 189. 

Orleans, duke of, 23, 



Otranto, duke of: see Fouche. 
Oudinot, gen. 116, 162. 



Padua, duke of: see Arrighis. 

Paine, Thomas, 30. 

Palafox, gen. 138. 

Paoli, gen. 16. 

Paris, capture, of, 176, 177. 

Paris, peace of, 189. 

Parker, sir Hyde, 93, 94. 

Paul, emperor, 73, 74, 93, 94. 

Petion, 22. 

Philippeaux, col. 76, 77. 

Pichegru, gen. 10, 23, 32, 33, 37, 

38,42, 43,52,60, 94, 102. 
Piontkowsky, capt. 239, 248. 
Pitt, William, 96, 124. 
Pius VI. 44,49,61. 
Pius VTI. 104, 105, 106, 108, 139. 

189, 210. 
PlatofF, gen. 162, 165,166. 
Polotsk, battle of, 162. 
Poniatowski, prince, 175. 
Ponte Corvo, prince of: see Ber* 

nadotte. 
Popham, sir Home, 124. 
Pozzolo, battle of, 73. 
Pressing, battle of, 140. 
Puissaye, marquis of, 39. 
Pultusk, battle of, 128. 
Pyramids, battle of the, 67, 68. 

Q. 

Quatre Bras, battle of, 199. 
Quiberon Bay, 39. 

R. 

Radstadt, congress of, 72. 
Ragusa, duke of: see Marmont. 
Rampon, gen. 77. 
Rapp, gen. 165. 
Ratisbon, capture of, 141. 
Raynal, abbe, 15, 42. 
Regnier, gen. 62, 75, 125, 175. 
Reille, count, 200. 
Rewbell, 42, 60. 
Richelieu, duke of, 206, 217. 
Rivoli, battle of, 49, 50. 
Rivoli, duke of: see Massena. 
Robespierre, Maximilian, 20, 22, 

28,29,30,31,32. 
Robespierre, the younger, 32. 
Rochambeau, gen. 100. 
Roland, 22. 



284 



INDEX. 



Roland, madame, 22. 
Romana, marquis de la, 136. 
Rombaud, gen. 78. 
Ross, capt. 207, 248. 
Rostopchin, gov. 164. 
Rovigo, duke of: see Savary. 

S. 
Saalfeld, battle of, 127. 
Salamanca, battle of, 160. 
Saragossa, siege of, 138, 139. 
Sari, capt. 223. 

Savary, gen. 109, 114, 207, 214. 
Saxe-Cobourg, prince of, 19. 
Schill, 143. 

Schleitz, battle of, 127. 
Schoenbrunn, treatjr of, 147. 
Schwartzenberg, prince, 156, 174, 

176. 
Sebastiani, gen. 113. 
Sedimen, battle of, 75. 
Serrurier, gen. 44, 105. 
Sieyes, abbe, 42, 80, 81, 85, 86. 
Slavery, 27, 101, 189. 
Smith, sir Sydney, 26, 76, 78, 96, 

98, 132, 252. 
Smolensko, battle of, 162. 
Soliraan Bey, 75. 
Soult, gen. 109, 112, 115, 126, 127, 

138, 159, 190, 195,198,214, 264. 
Stadtholder, 37. 
Stael, baron de, 36. 
vStandz, battle of, 61 , 
Starray, gen. 91. 
St. Cyr, marshal, 206. 
St. Domingo, island of, 27, 38. 
St. Helena, 208. 
St. .Just, 30. 
St. Lucia, 38. 
St. Pierre, abbe de, 42. 
St. Regent, 94, 95. 
St. Sebastian, 175. 
St. Vincent, battle of, 58. 
Strachan,sir R. 123, 148. 
Stuart, sir John, 96, 125. 
Suchet, gen. 109, 160, 214. 
Suwarrow, gen. 73, 74. 

T. 

Talavera, battle of, 158, 159. 
Talleyrand, 81, 87, 109, 136, 190, 

206,217,256. . 
Tallien, 30. 
Talma, 110. 
Tarentum, duke of: see Mac- 

donald» 



Tarragona, capture of, 160. 

Telegraph, 37. 

Tenerifte, 59. 

Tilsit, treaty of, 128, 129. 

Tinville, F. de, 32. 

Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 72. 

Toulon, city of, 17, 22, 25, 26. 

Trafalgar, battle of, 120, 121, 122^ 

123. 
Traillard, 73, 80. 
Transpadane Republic, 49. 
Trenck, baron, 30. 
Treviso, duke of: see Mortier. 
Trieste, capture of, 55. 
Truxtun, com. 54. 
Tuileries, attack upon, 21. 
Tuissant, 99, 100. 
Turgot, admiral, 17. 
Tyrol, 147. 

U. 
Ulm, surrender of, 112» 
Usher, capt. 183, 184. 

V. 

Valence, gen. 19. 
Valencia, capture of, 160. 
Valenciennes, siege of, 23. 
Valetta, siege of, 62. 
Valmy, duke of: see Kellerman. 
Vameira, battle of, 137. 
Vandamme, gen. 118, 173,214. 
Venaux, col. 78. 
Victor, gen. 109, 158, 197. 
Vienna, capture of, 1 12. 
Vignali, abbe, 272, 275, 277. 
Villaret, admiral, 36, 53. 
Villeneuve, admiral, 120, 123, 
Vittoria, battle of, 175. 
Vizenza, duke of: see Caulin^ 

court. 
Volney,42, 81., 

W. 
Wagram, battle of, 144, 145. 
Walcheren, 148. 
Warden, Dr. 225, 226, 240 
Warren, sir John B. 72. 
Warsaw, capture of, 128. 
Waterloo, battle of, 199, 200, 201, 

202, 203, 204, 205. 
Wellesley, sir A. : see duke of 

Wellington. 
Wellington, duke of, 131, 137, 158, 

159, 160, 175, 198, 199, 200, 202» 

203,206,216,217,221.. 



Westphalia, kingdom of, 129. 
Wilson, sir R. 223. 
Wimpsen, gen. 24. 
Wintzingerode, gen. 113. 
Wirtemberg, kingdom of, 126. 
Witgenstein, gen. 162, 173. 
Wright, capt. 103. 



INDEX. 285 

Wurmser, gen. 23, 48, 49, 54. 



York, duke of, 18, 23, 33, 34, 74. 

Z. 

Znaim, battle of, 145. 



THE END. 



I 



